The Beginning of Mrs X: Days of Future Past
by Pukka Meadows
Summary: "My name's Emilia, I'm an Aries and I promise that I'm not insane." Emilia believed that she was a fairly innocent person. She always donated to charity, never killed a bug and once cried because she stepped on a dog's paw. However, when a familiar face asks her to help kill Trask, she can't help but promise to be the one behind the trigger. Second in the 'Mrs X' trilogy.
1. Peaceful Thoughts

A/N: I do not own the X-Men franchise and neither do I own any of the songs, books or any other references made in this story. My only right to this story is the character of Emilia (which is not an adaptation of the actress Emilia Clarke), her family (who are not based on anything/anyone), and future characters that may pop up that do not belong in the Marvel universe.  


* * *

The cigar he held was the only warmth in the wasteland he stood in.  
It stayed tight between his lips as he lit it, the smoke flooded into his mouth and soon left as he breathed out. It swirled about, dancing around in it's own twisted flight around him, capturing him. It soon floated away, leaving him on his own once more. He repeated the cycle of inhaling and exhaling it as he stared up at the sky. Night had spread quickly and the only light that remained was the sprinkling of stars. Eventually he sighed, then plucked the cigar out of his mouth. It was his last one. He did have a stash of them but they were all gone now, except for this one. He snorted, maybe Storm was right about him having a smoking problem.

A sudden noise ripped him out of his thoughts. He stood up straight, his claws tore out automatically. Two figures hurried forward hand in hand. His claws slid back in painfully as he recognised the pair and then raised an eyebrow at their entwined hands. _When did that happen?_

"Logan." Kitty's face was tinged pink, her breathing was deep as if she'd just been running away from something.  
"Kitty," He nodded over to the other mutant. "Bobby."  
"We got the Professors message." The cigar went back into his mouth and he turned away.  
"Good." He motioned for them to follow him as he marched up the steps. The old students followed the Wolverine into the crumbling Monastery. As they were about to enter, another mutant passed them.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Logan came to a halt at her voice, he watched as her eyes stared up at the great white orb in the sky. "It's so pure and so bright, I thought it would have died out years ago." The woman's hair matched the moonlight, her platinum blonde locks came down in long waves around her face. He looked away when he realised that he was staring and said nothing, not knowing how to reply to her.

They both followed him into the old Chinese building and found the Professor, Storm and Magneto waiting for them. They both greeted the Professor before Bobby embraced Storm who stood next to him. Once they had all settled, Kitty got on the topic of them surviving the latest attacks.

"Whenever the Sentinels attack, Warpath spots them... then I send Bishop back to warn us of the attack before it happens. Blink scouts the exit site and then we leave before they ever know we were there."  
"Because we never were." Logan furrowed his eyebrows at Bobby's words.  
 **"** What do you mean you were never there?" The Professor leaned back in his chair to explain to Logan.  
"She projects Bishop back in time a few days to warn the others of the coming attack.  
"So she sends Bishop back in time?" He asked trying to grasp it.  
 **"** No, just his consciousness, into his younger self. His younger body."

"This might just work, Charles." Kitty tilted her head at Magneto's words.  
 **"** What might work?"  
"The Sentinel program was originally conceived by Doctor Bolivar Trask." As he begun, the other mutants in the room straightened at the mention of the programme. "In the early '70's, he was one of the world's leading weapons designers. But, covertly, he had begun experimenting on mutants using their gifts to fuel his own research. There was one mutant who had discovered what he was doing." Erik then interrupted as memories flooded back.  
"A mutant with the ability to transform herself into anyone."  
 **"** Mystique." Logan growled. The Professor ignored his tone and carried on.

 **"** I knew her as Raven. We met when we were children, grew up together. She was like a sister to me. I tried to help her but only succeeded in driving her away. She hunted Trask across the world," he paused and swallowed before carrying on. "... along with another mutant."  
"Another mutant?" Logan questioned, not knowing that Mystique had partnered up with anyone else besides Magneto.  
"A mutant with the ability to replicate other's mutations." Storm's eyes widened in realisation at his words.

"The Supreme?" He nodded and continued.  
"She told Emilia of what Trask was doing and she agreed to help Raven take him down. And at the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, after the Vietnam War they found Trask... and killed him. It was the first time they both killed."  
"It wasn't their last."

"In the Supreme's defence," interrupted a voice, they all turned to find the woman from earlier at the entrance. "She killed only four people in her lifetime and they were all out of mercy."

"But killing Trask did not have the outcome Raven expected." The elder quickly went back to his previous point. "It only persuaded the government of the need for his program. They captured both of them that day, tortured them, experimented on them. In Raven's DNA, they discovered the secrets to her powers of transformation. In Emilia's, they found how she was able to copy and store mutations just by touching another person. Emilia and Raven later on went their separate ways and never saw each other again. But their DNA gave the government the key they needed to create weapons that could adapt to any mutant power. And in less than 50 years the machines that have destroyed so many of our kind were created. But it all started that day in 1973, the day they first killed. The day they truly became Mystique and the Supreme."

Kitty leaned forward with wide eyes.  
 **"** You want to go back there."  
"If I can get to them, stop the assassination, keep them both out off their hands then we can stop the Sentinels from ever being born."  
 **"** And end this war," Magneto added, "before it ever begins." A silence filled the room as they all waited for Kitty's answer. She glanced back at Bobby before looking back at her old teacher.

 **"** I can send someone back a couple weeks, maybe a month, but you're talking about going back decades. You have the the most powerful brain in the world, Professor... but the mind can only stretch so far before it snaps. It would you rip apart. I'm sorry. No one could survive that trip." Logan's eyes were set on the floor, deep in thought. _Could I? Should I?_ He came to a quick decision.  
"What if someone's mind has a way of snapping back? What if someone can heal as fast as they're ripped apart?" They all looked at each other, wondering it was possible.  
"It could work."

"We'll need people to stand guard outside." Storm walked over to the blonde girl. "You and I'll go."  
"The others will be here soon." Bobby called after them as they soon left.

"So I wake up in my younger body, God knows where... then what?" Ten minutes had passed since the agreement. His cigar was now put out, much to his disdain and he had just come back from barricading the door.  
"You'll need to go to my house and find me," said the Professor. "Convince me of all of this." Logan raised an eyebrow.  
"Won't you be able to just read my mind?"  
"I didn't have my powers in 1973. Logan, you're going to have to do for me what I once did for you. Lead me, guide me. I was a very different man then. You'll have to be patient with me."  
 **"** Patience isn't my strongest suit." He then sighed. "Anything else?"

"After that you'll need to find Emilia, the reason I called everyone earlier than planned is because you'll need more time to help her." Before he could ask what the Supreme needed help with, Magneto stepped forward.  
 **"** You'll need me as well."  
"What?"  
"After Mystique left Charles, she came with me and I set her on a dangerous path. A darker path. It's going to take the two of us, side by side at a time when we couldn't be further apart."  
"Great." He said with a frown. "So where do I find you?"  
"Well, it's complicated." He left them both with an eye roll and went forward to lay on the concrete slab. Kitty sat by his head.

"Basically, your body will go to sleep while your mind travels back in time." She explained while her fingers fiddled nervously. "As long as you're back there, past and present will continue to coexist. But once you wake up... whatever you've done will take hold and become history. And for the rest of us," she took a shaky breath, "it will be the only history that we know. It will be like the last that 50 years never happened. And this world, and this war... the only person who'll remember it is you." She swept her hair out of her face and concentrated on what needed to be done. "All right, Logan, I need you to clear your head and to stay as calm as possible." He frowned up at her.  
"What? What do you mean?"  
"If your mind gets rocky, it will be harder for me to hold you... and you could start to slip between past and future."  
"What if I need to get a little rocky?" He asked, knowing that things probably wouldn't go as smoothly planned as they hoped.  
"Think peaceful thoughts?" She suggested.  
"Peaceful thoughts... do you have any good news?"  
"Well," She thought, "you don't really age, so you'll pretty much look the same."

"You won't have much the time in the past," Logan looked up to find Bobby standing next to him. "The Sentinels will find us. They always do." The other mutants like Bishop and Blink had still not appeared, they were distracting the Sentinels, allowing more time for Logan to go back.  
"And this time, we won't be able to run. We'll have no escape. This is our last chance."

She closed her eyes and her hands reached out to the sides of his head. He took a nervous breath.  
"See you all soon."  
"This might sting a little. " Kitty warned as she began to focus.

Two bright lights came out of her hands and they flowed simultaneously into Logan's head. As they entered, a searing pain burnt through him. He then screamed louder than he ever had as he felt it tearing inside of him. It felt like he was pulled apart; he could not breathe, there was something tightening around his chest; his ear drums rang at an inhuman volume.

Then everything went white.

* * *

 **A/N: AH! It's the start of a new story! What do you think Logan will find when he goes back? What do you think Emilia needs help with.**

 _(Sorry if the end was crap I'm sort of rushing, I might come back and edit this in the future xoxo)_

I've got mock exams this week and a drama exam the week after so sorry in advance if the next chapter isn't up as fast!

 **Please review that would be amazing and a great start to this new story! Thank you to everyone who has followed and favourited my profile, I didn't expect so many to do it! The last story hit 26k reads which is jaw-dropping! THANK YOU ALL!**


	2. No Professor Here

**Chapter 1 - No Professor Here**

 **'And I wonder if anyone is really happy. I hope they are. I really hope they are.'**

Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 **-o-**

 _'The first time, ever I saw your face,_  
 _I thought the sun rose in your eyes,'_

It was the middle of the night when he woke up. Roberta Flack played out from the radio beside him as he blinked his eyes open in confusion. On his right laid a young woman that he didn't recognise, barely covered by the sheets. He pushed himself up and the bed began to slosh side to side. He groaned, he hated water beds.

 _It worked,_ he realised as he stared out of the window. An inky sky appeared to him along with lights of the city. He went closer and watched the night life below him, how long had it been since he had seen so many people and so many lights?

 _'And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave.'_

He then hurried, remembering what he had come here to do. He grabbed the jeans nearest to him and as soon as they were on he left the room to get a better understanding of where he was. Logan walked out into a hallway and began making his way down when he noticed a group of men at the end of the hall.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" One yelled out at him. "You can't just walk out on the job!"  
"Who the hell are you?" There was no answer except they were coming closer. "Hey, I don't know what's going on." They then saw him buttoning and zipping up his jeans.  
"Don't tell me you just slept with the Boss' daughter," said one with a huge moustache. "You're supposed to be guarding her not screwing her."  
"I didn't sleep with her."  
"No?"  
"No," he then thought about it. "I mean, yes, I slept with her many times." A cry of protest came from the girl he had just left, he ignored her and carried on. "But, that wasn't me. That was the old me. I just got here 20 seconds ago.

"Really?" He cocked an eyebrow at Logan. "Then what happened to your clothes?"  
 **"** My... oh." He looked down and saw the lack of clothes, then lifted his head with a raised eyebrow along with a close-lipped smile. "Would you believe me if I told you I was sent here from the future?"

"Gwen stay in your room, sweetheart, we're gonna take care of this comedian." Logan chuckled.  
"No, you're not." They narrowed their eyes down at him as he began to stretch. "You're gonna give me the keys to your car and some money for gas or you're gonna wake up in the hospital. Trust me, I know how these things play out."  
 **"** Oh because you're from the future?" He sneered at Logan.  
 **"** No, because of these." His claws tore out out of skin and before he knew it he was being riddled with bullets. "God damn it!" He swore and already felt the same bullets beginning to pop back out one after another. He then sliced and cut his way through, just enough so they all fell to the floor. Dead or alive, he didn't care.

"Peaceful thoughts." He ended reminding himself when it was done. He took deep breaths to calm himself down before he returned back to the room to find the rest of his clothes. He shrugged a leather jacket on after changing before grabbing keys and a wallet from one of the men on the floor before leaving.

 _Peaceful thoughts._

 **-o-**

Hours later, when it was early morning, he found himself looking up at the future school with bitter disappointment. It was a dump. Some of the windows were boarded up from being smashed, ivy had crawled up the sides of the walls and seemed to have latched itself there. The garden was outgrown and he wondered when was the last time someone tended to it, months, years? Even the place where a fountain once was had grass sprouting out of it. The whole place looked abandoned. .

He looked at the trees surrounding him when something caught the corner of his eye. A flash of white moved. When he turned it was gone. He stayed still, wondering if it was his mind playing tricks on him. A bird cawed from above. He started up the stairs, choosing to carry on and ignore what happened. On the third step the flicker of white came again. He spun around and his claws threatened to slide out as he prepared for the attack.

There was nothing.

 _Concentrate,_ he told himself, _think peaceful thoughts.  
_  
He knocked three times and waited. A shuffle came from behind the doors as he observed his surroundings and then they opened. A young man with big rimmed glasses answered.  
"Can I help you?"  
"Uh... Yeah, what happened to the school?"  
"The school's been shut for years. Are you a parent?" Logan scoffed.  
"I sure as hell hope not. Who are you?"  
"I'm Hank. Hank McCoy. I look after the house now." Logan took the sunglasses he wore off in disbelief.

"You're Beast?"Hank's eyes widened at his words. "Look at you. I guess you're a late bloomer."  
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm gonna ask you to leave." He went to slam the door shut but Logan was one step ahead.  
"So where's the Professor?" He asked as he pushed against the door. Hank struggled against Logan's strength.  
"There's no professor here."  
"You're pretty strong for a scrawny kid," He smirked. "Come on, you sure there's not a little Beast in there?"

"No," Hank's face became flushed as he pushed all of his weight against the door.  
"Come on, Beast."  
"He's not here."  
"Come on, Beastie."  
"No." He grunted.

The door gave way as Logan burst through. He then pushed through Hank and entered the X-Mansion.  
"Hey!" He followed him as Logan made his way to the stairs. "I said the school's closed. You need to leave."  
"Not until I see the Professor." Hank grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around.  
"There's no Professor here, I told you that."

"Look, kid." He sighed. "You and I gonna be good friends..." His fist flew out and punched Hank square in the face. "You just don't know it yet." Logan watched as he sank to the ground then turned away and carried on up the stairs. "Professor!" He called out. He left the staircase and journeyed down a hall. Everything was a rich brown with fragments of colours here or there. He did not notice the empty bottle across from him. "Professor!" A rumbling came from behind and a flash of blue then came charging at him.

Next thing he knew he was being flung like a ragdoll back to the stairwell. He heard something crunch when he landed and couldn't tell if it was him or the wood beneath him. Beast leapt on top of him and he felt himself being thrown again. His next landing spot was the table and in a blink of a second Beast was hanging off the chandelier. His paw was ready to strike until they both heard someone call out.

"Hank?" They watched as a pair of feet descended the stairs. "What's going on here?"  
"Professor?" Logan asked.  
"Please don't call me that."  
"Why?" Hank asked about his request. "You know this guy?"  
"Yeah, he looks slightly familiar. Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank." He flipped off the Chandelier and landed on his two feet. Logan's eyes widened at the scene in front of him. Charles Xavier walked down the stairs with no hint of a struggle. He wore a creased dressing gown and his pillow seemed to have styled his long hair as it was incredibly disheveled.

"You can walk?" Logan knew that he should have lost the use of his legs by now. _  
_"You're a perceptive one." His dressing gown hung close to him as the sarcasm dripped off his tongue. He held a tumbler glass loosely in his hand.  
"I thought Erik-"  
"Which makes it slightly perplexing that you missed our sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend. I'm gonna have to ask him to ask you to leave." He slowly sat down on one of the steps and rubbed his face.

"Well," Logan sighed. "I'm afraid I can't do that... because I was sent here for you."  
"Well, tell whoever it was sent you that I'm busy."  
"That's gonna be a little tricky because the person who sent me was you."

"What?" Wrinkles of surprise appeared on his forehead.  
"About fifty years from now."  
"Like in the future, fifty years from now?"  
"Yeah."  
"I sent you from the future?" He glanced at Hank with raised eyebrows.  
"Yeah."

"Piss off."  
"If you had your powers, you'd know I was telling the truth."  
"How do you know I don't have my p-" He paused. "Who are you?"  
"I told you."  
"Are you CIA?"  
"No."  
"You've been watching me?"

"I know you, Charles." He walked around the table as he spoke. "We've been friends for years. I know your powers came when you were nine. I know you thought you were going crazy when it started... all the voices in your head. And it wasn't until you were twelve that you realized all the voices were in everyone else's head. Do you want me to go on?" Charles shook his head at him in a mixture of confusion and shock.  
"I never told anyone that but-"  
"But your wife. But you will tell others."  
"I'm not married."  
"Not, yet, no, but, you will."

"All right," he finally said. "You've piqued my interest. What do you want?"

"We have to stop Raven and Emilia." Charles froze at the mention of their names. "I need your help. We need your help." His face filled with hundreds of different emotions. Before Logan had time to identify them, Charles walked away.

"I think I'd like to wake up now." His voice was barely a whisper. He left them as he entered the next room.  
"What do they have to do with this?" He watched silently as Hank returned to his human form.

Words failed him as the conversations around him became fainter. His heart jumped out of his chest when something came racing towards the two men in front of them. He shouted at them to watch out but they were oblivious to what was going on.

 _'Help!'_ It reached out its hand, a look of weakness on their face as the image became clearer.

It was a woman. She wore a hospital gown and nothing else. Her hair was a light blonde, almost white like Storms, however it was dull from how dirty it looked. It was unkempt, resembling a bird's nest. She was pale, almost ill like. Her eyes locked onto his, wild and frightened, begging him to do something.

But he did not move, only stared as she pushed her way through Charles and Hank who were now staring at him in concern.

 _'Find me!'_ She begged as she gripped onto his shirt, her nails left raw scratches against his skin. _'I need you to find me'_ He pushed her back and she collapsed against the professor's desk, and he woke himself up from the trance he was in.

"Logan!" Charles had a hand on his shoulder. "You alright?"

Logan looked at the desk again, there was no woman.

"Thought I saw something."

 _I know that face_ , he thought to himself _, I know that hair and I know that voice.  
_ But for the life of him, he could not remember who.

 **-o-**

"So you're saying... they took Raven and Emilia's powers, and what? They weaponized it?"

"Yep." He had repeated everything that the future Professor had told him and finally the two mutants understood what Logan had been saying.  
"Well, Raven is unique." Charles smiled, recognising the familiar look on Hank's face.  
"Yes, she is, Hank."

"In the beginning the Sentinels were just targeting mutants, then they began to identify the genetics in non-mutants who'd eventually have mutant children or grandchildren." Charles made his way to the couch next to the window with a new drink in his hand as he listened to Logan. "Then they started targeting everybody. Many of the humans tried to help us, it was a slaughter. Leaving only the worst of humanity in charge. I've been in a lot of wars, I've never seen anything like this. And it all starts with her." He shifted to grab the slouching Charles' attention. "She's going to persuade Emilia into helping her kill Trask, we need to find Emilia and make sure Raven doesn't get to her. If we prevent that then it might buy us more time to try reason with Raven."

"Let's just say for the sake of... the sake," Charles began, "that I choose to believe you... that I choose to help you. Raven won't listen to me. Her heart and soul belong to someone else now."  
"I know." Logan got up as he remembered how close she had been with an old enemy. "That's why we're gonna need Magneto, too."

"Erik?" Hank asked as Charles began to laugh. "You do know where Erik is?" Charles laughed harder and louder as he started to walk out of the room. As he met Logan's eye his voice took a serious turn and lost all trace of humour.  
"He's where he belongs."

"That's it, you're just gonna walk out?" Logan called after him as he headed back to the stairs.  
"Ooh, top marks. Like I said, you are perceptive."  
"The Professor I know would never turn his back on someone who'd lost their path. Especially someone he loved." Charles stopped at the first step and swung back around.

"You know, I think I do remember you now." He came closer, his glass now empty. "Yeah... We came to you a long time ago seeking your help. And I'm gonna say to you what you said to us then: Fuck off!"

Logan latched hold of his shirt and held him tightly.  
"Listen to me, you little shit." His veins throbbed against his skin. "I've come a long way, and I've watched a lot of people die. Good people. Friends. If you're gonna wallow in self-pity and do nothing, then you're gonna watch the same thing... you understand?" He let go, hoping that his point had sunken in.

"We all have to die sometime." Logan's jaw clenched as Charles left them once more.

"Told you there's no professor here." He turned around when Charles disappeared out of sight.  
"What the hell happened to him?"

"He lost everything. Erik, Raven, his legs. We built this school, the labs, this whole place then, just after the first semester the war in Vietnam got worse." Hank screwed a cap back onto the bottle that Charles had left open. "Many of the teachers and older students were drafted. Then, he and Emilia lost the baby. It broke him." Logan's eyebrows raised.  
"Wait what?"  
"You didn't know?" He shook his head. "It was after the first trimester. He retreated into himself. I wanted to help, do something, so I designed a serum to treat his spine derived from the same formula that helps me control my mutation. I take just enough to keep myself balanced but... he takes too much. Then Emilia left a couple months before they set to get married, I think that was the final straw. I tried easing him back but he just couldn't bear the pain, the voices. The treatment gives him his legs but it's not enough. He's... he's just lost too much."

 **-o-**

He stumbled into his room and began fiddling with random things to distract himself from his own thoughts. Was that guilt he was feeling? He shrugged it off as he gulped down another drink. He coughed as it burned his throat. Slowly he sunk down into his seat. After a while he pulled his dressing gown off. He grabbed the same strap that he did everyday and wrapped it around his upper arm. He held the end of it with his teeth, making it constrict even tighter. The veins in his arm became easier to see as he grabbed the injection across from him. A strange sense of relief filled him as all of the serum went, disappearing into his bloodstream. He tossed the needle he had used to the side, no longer needing it.

He sat back in his chair and found that he was unable to stop his thoughts from wreaking havoc.  
 _'I need your help. We need your help.'_ Random sentences came back to him. _  
'It all starts with her.'_

His eyes fell onto the picture on his desk of his sister and all the memories came flooding back.

 _'You're not scared of me?'_ She had been small, vulnerable and barely four-foot. _  
__'I always believed I couldn't be the only one in the world."_ He had raised his hand out to shake hers, the scales covering her hands weren't as hard as he thought they would have been. _'Charles Xavier.'  
_ _'Raven.'  
_ _'You're hungry and alone. Take whatever you want. We've got lots of food. You don't have to steal. In fact... you never have to steal again. And that's a promise.'_

His eyes tore away as his chest began to ache, his gaze then fell onto the photograph next to it. Emilia's silver-gold hair had been braided by Maisie and Adrienne and they had then weaved flowers into it. They had caught the picture of her mid-laugh, sun shining down on her and with no care in the world. The way it should have been all of the time.

 _'I'm the human definition of a sponge.'_ Charles remembered the first conversation they ever had.  
 _'A very groovy sponge.'_ Her eyes that were a mix of blue and green had crinkled at the sides. _  
_ _'Very.'_ She had agreed, grinning at him.

He didn't realise it at the time but she had him hooked. Within weeks she had him completely wrapped around her finger. In fact, both of them had him wrapped around their fingers. _His girls._ He looked across the room and found her again. Not in a photograph, but an old book with a handwritten note and an engagement ring that had once held such promise a long time ago.

 _Why are you doing this?_ He asked himself as he found himself walking over to it. _You'll only hurt yourself even more, don't you remember last time?_ He looked over to a framed photograph that held a photograph of them, smashed into pieces in the corner. He picked up the note with trembling hands as he brought the familiar handwriting closer.

 _'Charles,_

 _I think that this is it for us, it has been for a while. Clearly I can't stay here any longer, we'd both go mad if I do. I'm leaving with Adrienne and Julien, they can't raise another child here, not in this environment, not when you're like this. So I'm leaving with them... it's that or stay and die.  
The person that you've been trying to hide these past few years is someone I respect more than anyone in the world._

 _All my love,_  
 _Emmy x_

 _P.S. There's leftover pizza from last night in the fridge for you, even you can't survive an entire week on just alcohol. Eat the pizza.'_

He sighed, knowing what he'd have to do.

-o-

"I'll help you get her." Logan and Hank turned to find him at the door, there was no drink in his hand. "Not for any of your future shite, but for her."  
"Fair enough." Logan replied. A smile came on Hank's face, as a glimpse of the man he used to know came back.

"But I'll tell you this. You don't know Erik. That man is a monster. A murderer." He leaned against the edge of a large mahogany table. "You think you can convince Raven to change? For her and Emilia to come home? That's splendid. But what makes you think you can change him?"  
"Because you and Erik sent me back together." Charles' face fell at his words, Logan then changed the subject. "I need you to tell me about Emilia."

Hank gave a look of warning but Logan blanked him and waited for an answer. Charles went silent, his eyes stilled and focused on an untouched book on his desk. "What's she like?"

"Extraordinary. In fact, words can't describe how-"  
"I mean what she look like?" His brows furrowed at Logan.  
"I don't understand-"  
"Just answer the question."

"Well, she's blonde." He rubbed his face, not sure where Logan was going with this.  
"How blonde?"  
"Almost white blonde."  
"Anything else?"  
"She's small, big eyebrows, Hank there should be a photograph in the second drawer."

Hank opened the drawer and rummaged through until he found it right at the bottom. He then handed it to Logan and he couldn't stop himself from cursing.  
"Shit."  
"What?" Charles asked, his eyes darting between the both of them. "What is it?"

It was the exact same woman he had been seeing. He explained to them what had been happening the minute he walked through the gates.

"I feel like I've been going crazy." He admitted after he had finished.  
"Maybe it is actually her calling for help," Hank turned to Logan. "Emilia also has telepathic abilities."  
"Well yeah, she's the Supreme." Hank and Charles stared at him with confused faces. "I'll it explain later."

"I'm assuming that she saw you coming back in a vision," Charles tried to understand it all, "and latched onto your mind, knowing that you would come here. Then projected herself to you so that you would tell us?"  
"It's not impossible." Hank replied. "She's extremely powerful, especially since the serum incident." His cheeks turned pink at the mention of the serum, still feeling guilty for what had happened.  
"Yes, but why? Why not just come here herself?"

 _'Hello?'_ a voice whispered.

Logan jerked up, but then calmed once he released what was happening. He looked to the corner to find the woman they had just been speaking of.  
"What is it?" Hank asked. "Is it her?" Logan nodded as he hesitantly walked towards her. He knelt down so he was face to face with her and reached out his hand to comfort her.

It went right through her.

"Where are you?" He asked. Hank and Charles came behind him. She shook her head, tears welling in her eyes and kept her mouth shut.

"We need to know where you are so we can help you."  
 _'The Costello's know.'_  
"What do you mean?"

Her eyes went left, as though she had just heard something. _'They're coming for me.'  
_ "The Costello's?" He asked. Charles and Hank gave a look to each other.

She shook her head. _'Please, find me'_ then it seemed like she was dragged through the wall and disappeared.

"The Costello's?" Logan asked them. "As in, Maisie Costello?"  
"How do you know who she is?"  
"I've fought alongside her once or twice, along with your-" He stopped himself before he said too much.  
"Along with my what?" Charles asked.

"Nothing." Logan answered, hoping he would drop it. "You guys know where they live?" Hank fidgeted  
"We haven't spoken to them or Emilia in years."  
"How the hell are we gonna find them?" Hank's eyes flickered to Charles'.  
"Is Cerebro out of the question?" He looked down away from him, not ready to go that far. "We have a phonebook." Hank then offered to Logan.

He gave a nod and thanked him. As Hank left, Logan found himself staring at the photo Charles kept under his desk.  
 _Where are you?_ He found himself asking silently. _Where have you disappeared?_ He got no reply. Instead of he got silence and saw himself in the reflection of her silver-gold hair.

He wondered if she was even still alive.

* * *

 **A/N: The only reason this is up so soon is because I left college early today as I felt faint. I should really be revising for my Media mock tomorrow instead of writing but oops.**

 **If anyone is confused, the Costello's are Adrienne and Julien. I changed their last name as I was unhappy with the way it sounded before.**

 **I've realised lately that I haven't been writing in as much detail as I used to, does this bother anyone? I hope not.**

 **Reviews:**

 _anonymouscsifan: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It could be her and Charles' future child, we'll have to wait and see! ;)_  
 _oXxgeorgiaxXo: Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last story, I hope you enjoy this one!_

 **Thanks to everyone who has followed and faved! It means alot honestly! I'm actually really excited about this and I can't stop writing!**

 **Please review it would awesome to hear of what you think about this chapter! Give me a couple of days for the next one!**


	3. A Bird With No Feathers

**Chapter 3 - A Bird With No Feathers**

 **'I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.'**

Susan B. Anthony

* * *

Not long after leaving the X-Mansion, they pulled up outside a small white house. There was a porch out front and a bright purple bike was left on the floor, slightly rusted at the sides. They got out of the car and stood for a minute staring up at it. He made the first step, with Hank and Charles following him. There were flower pots outside the house filled with a rainbow of different colours. However, he noticed that some of the flowers had began to wilt, curling into themselves. His feet stomped against the white steps, leaving dirt marks in his trail. When he stopped, he turned back to Charles.

"You wanna...?" He pointed towards the door, gesturing for him to knock. Charles sighed but found himself automatically moving towards it. His hand raised to knock but hesitated at the last moment. He took a quick breath and then knocked three times with his knuckles.

 _Let her be here,_ Charles begged silently as he felt his heart beat wildly, _let her answer, let her be safe._

Through the small window on the door they saw a blurred image of someone coming towards them.  
"They look blonde." Logan noted. "Think it could be her?" Charles shook his head, his heart dropping.  
"Her hair wasn't that dark." A jangle of keys came behind the door and then it was opened.

Julien opened with a smile, but it then faded.

"Charles?" His violet eyes fell onto the man next to him. "Hank?"  
"Long time no see." Julien finally smiled again at his words but didn't seem as enthusiastic and opened the door wide.  
"Come on in."

"Adrienne!" He called upstairs. "We got visitors!" He motioned for them to enter the living room. A bright green couch glared at Logan the moment he walked in. The rest of the room was a mixture of limes and browns, but the couch was the loudest along with the blue cushions. _Fucking 1970's,_ he cursed as he blinked at the colours. Hank and Charles didn't seem started at all, infact they were used to it. Logan felt appalled, how didn't they even flinch from the colours? He only then noticed the floral shirt Charles wore and gave up.

"Anyone want anything to drink?"  
"We just want some answers and then we'll leave." Before he could respond, Julien turned to a girl coming in through the door.  
"Hey Maise', you ready for school?" The toddler that Charles and Hank had once known was now a 5ft 3 twelve year old and was still growing. Her green hair was gone and had been dyed blonde but you could see traces of a faded green at her roots if you looked closely.  
"Unfortunately," she replied and then collapsed onto the couch with a pout.

"Actually, I've been meaning to call you." Julien turned to Hank. "Maisie's the brightest kid in her entire school, they're thinking of putting her up a couple years, it reminded me of you." Maisie peeked an eye open at the mention of her name and watched Hank closely.  
"Well, she showed signs of being very smart as a child."

"She isn't just 'smart'," they turned to find Adrienne at the door. "She's a genius." The only two things that seemed to have changed about Adrienne over the last five years was that her hair had been cut into a short bob and she seemed more tired than ever before. Her southern accent was still strong as ever. A blush came onto Maisie's face and she hid her face in a pillow.  
"I'll run tests if you'd like." Hank offered.  
"Another time, Hank," Charles said. "We need to speak to Emilia."

Maisie took no time in answering.  
"Aunt Em's not here." She then noticed the looks off her parents."What? She's not, she hasn't been here for two years." Her voice seemed bitter, almost hurt.  
"Maisie, it's time to go, come on." Maisie groaned but followed her mother out. Logan heard a series of whispers between them that seemed to be an argument once they stepped into the hall.

"Where'd she go?" He then asked. Julien bit his lower lip hard.  
"Buxmont Mental Institution."

"Mental institution?!" Charles asked, his voice rose and came out harsh."You put her in a bloody mental institution?!"  
"It wasn't our choice." Julien said in defense. "We couldn't stop them, they just came for her." He then questioned Charles with a look of confusion. "How did you not know?"  
"Who are _'they'_?" Logan inquired before Charles could answer.  
"The people who work there. They came in the middle of the night and dragged her out saying that all the papers had been signed."

 _Signed by who?_ Logan wanted to know. Instead, he inwardly groaned realising that this was going to take longer than he thought it would.

"Can you take us too her?" Julien nodded and grabbed a set of keys.  
"Yeah, I'll drive you."

 **-o-**

None of them knew what they had been expecting when they walked through those doors. For a mental institution it was strangely calm, almost tranquil. The only thing that confirmed it was the right place were the nurses that stayed by the patients side when they wandered.

 _It's the calm before the storm, s_ aid a silent voice to Logan.

They let Julien sweet talk the lady at the front desk into letting them in.  
"B-but, visiting times are over in thirty." She stuttered, and then blushed when Julien grinned at her, his golden blonde hair seemed to gleam as the sun peered down through the window at him.  
"We won't take too long." He winked and the young woman couldn't help but swoon. Logan rolled his eyes at the whole ordeal. Julien gave Emilia's name and she held four passes in her hand.

"I'm guessing you're visiting before she's moved, right?"  
"Sorry, what?"  
"You didn't know?" She asked, her red lips gave an embarrassed smile. "She's being moved to Trask industries tomorrow." Logan straightened up at the name.  
"Why?" Julien asked, playing dumb. "I thought Trask just built stuff."

"They have professionals working there now, they think she'd be more comfortable with them." She noticed someone coming towards them. "Oh, here's your doctor!" A man in his late fifties with a permanent scowl stopped by them.

"Are you the ones here for Emilia?"  
"That's us."  
"Follow me, she's waiting in the visitor's room."

They followed him in silence, the only noise was from the Doctor huffing and puffing. Logan thought mental institutes were the place of nightmares, full of screaming people being tortured. Instead, it was... well... ordinary. It was like a normal hospital with its white pristine walls, obnoxious health posters and over the top friendly nurses. He leaned over to Charles.

"I don't have a good feeling about this place." _It was too good to be true._ Charles stayed silent and chose to bite down on his lip.

They came to a stop before two wooden doors. Logan sent a look to Charles when he noticed the amount of metal locks on the door. _Shouldn't she have been able to get through these easily?_ He knew that Charles was thinking the exact same.

"I'm going to warn you," The Doctors bushy eyebrows formed a caterpillar when he scowled harder at them, "She isn't normally allowed visitors because she gets too over emotional and when she isn't she doesn't get them anyway. She's also had a rough morning from the shock therapy we gave her last night."  
"Shock therapy?"  
"We've began doing it weekly, she was hysterical this morning so we had to sedate her and she only now appears to be coming out of it. So good luck making sense of whatever she says."

"Got it." He opened the doors and they saw patient upon patient with visitors. As they all took a step in, Logan noticed one of out of their group did not move. He turned back to find Charles glued to the spot.

"This will be the first time I've seen her in five years." Logan put his arm on his shoulder and gave a sympathetic look.  
"It's going to be hard, I won't lie to you." He said. "But, Charles, she doesn't belong here.."

Charles took a deep breath and walked forward with Logan. They soon spotted a mess of white hair in the corner. She sat on a sofa, a red knitted cardigan draped on her with a game of chess in front. Her eyes, although searching across the room, were unseeing.

They crowded around her. Julien stood next to her, changing from the flirt he was five minutes ago to a maternal figure as he pulled up her cardigan to cover her bare shoulders. Hank and Logan kept their distance but stayed close in case something were to happen. Charles, almost by instinct, sat beside her.

She hardly noticed their presence.

"Emilia," said a nurse that stood close by. "Look at all these people who've come to see you." She stayed silent. Her hand reached for a pawn and held it close to her chest.  
"Emilia don't be rude, what have I said about manners?" She began to mumble to herself and she clutched on tight to the chess piece. Logan kneeled down in front of her when he noticed the nurse coming towards her.

"Emilia?" He asked. Her eyes latched onto his.  
"Too young to be old yet too old to be young." He blinked, startled at her words.

"Ignore her." Said the nurse. "It's one of her hallucinations, give her a minute and she'll snap right out of it."  
"Hallucinations?"  
"She regularly has a few episodes, usually she becomes distressed and frantic which leads to her shouting and disturbing the entire ward." She sighed. "Sometimes she is utterly unresponsive to anything we say or do." The woman bent over and gave a sharp slap to Emilia's wrist to try and wake her up from it. Emilia did not flinch.

Charles stood up with a glare in between them, stopping the nurse from getting any closer to Emilia.  
"We'd like to be alone." She froze under the look he gave her. Logan swore that her eye twitched, then she plastered on a fake smile.  
"Oh, of course." She went over to another patient close by but kept an eye on them. Charles slowly sat back down next to Emilia.

"Em?" She twirled the pawn around and around in her hand. "We've come for you, all of us, together." She reached across him and grabbed a blue marker out of a colouring box. If she heard anyone of them then she did not act like it.

"Look at her wrists." Julien pointed them out. Scars littered her skin. Some looked raw and others looked as if they were only just beginning to fade.  
"What do you think they're from?"  
"Probably from the straps they use to hold her down when they... y'know." Julien then muttered something about her not wearing any shoes and then left them as he went to complain.

"Em', we're going to get you out, I'm going to keep you safe," Charles promised. "I'm going to keep you out of their hands." A hint of recognition came onto her face as she stared into his eyes. Quickly, she shot down and began colouring the pawn with the marker.

 _What have they done to you?_ Logan questioned as he watched her scribble all over the piece.

"Excuse me," Hank went up to the nurse who had been watching them like a hawk. "I'd like to know about the medication she's on."  
"I'm not quite sure what they use, but I do know that they usually give her double the dosage."  
"Why?" She shrugged.  
"The normal amount wears off quickly for some reason, only twice the amount reaches the same effect it does on the other patients."

As Hank came back, Julien rejoined them.  
"We have to go." His eyes didn't stop darting around the room. Logan noticed that some of the staff were staring at them curiously. Charles shook his head, his hand held Emilia's tight and his thumb stroked her hand gently.

"We can't just leave her here," his voice was thick with emotion. "I won't leave her here."  
"I've got an idea," Julien spoke quietly to him as two nurses came extra close. "It might work but we have to leave to do it."

He hesitated for a couple seconds, then he came in front of her.  
"We'll come back for you," he promised. "I won't leave you." Her eyes widened and her hands reached out.

"Charles?" She whispered. His eyebrows shot up as her palms held his cheeks.  
"Yes," he managed to get out. "Yes it's me, we've come for you." His chest felt like it would explode as her thumb stroked through his stubble. _What happened to you?_

She then pressed the pawn she had been playing with into his palm and closed his hand around it. It stained his skin blue but he did not care.  
"The bird's here," She gripped his arm, her nails dug into his flesh. "She's flown through these walls many times except now all her feathers are gone."  
"What does that mean?" Before he could get an answer the nurse from before came forward and put her hands on Emilia's shoulders.

"Oh look at the time," the false smile still stayed on her face. "It's moving day for you tomorrow and you still haven't had your shower." Emilia bit down hard on her lip, as if she were in pain. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you all to leave."

Then they were being escorted out of the visiting room.  
"Wait, I haven't said goodbye." Charles persisted as he watched the nurse take Emilia away and felt himself being pushed forward. "I need to say goodbye." Then the doors were being closed on them and the last thing he saw was the back of her head.

"What do we do?" Logan asked Julien as they began to make their way through to where they had entered.  
"There's a security room at the front by the reception, they keep all their patient files in there and the controls to the security cameras and rooms." He smirked. "I say, get her file and then fuck up the system." Hank frowned.  
"Doesn't seem like a very good plan. In fact, it sounds like you just made it up."  
"Oh I'm sorry Hank, but you see, no one told me to bring my _'How to Break Someone Out of A Mental Hospital: 101'_ book with me." His eyes then narrowed down at him. "Did you bring yours with you? Or do you have a better plan?" Hank stayed quiet.

"You go sneak in," Julien told the others. "I'll distract the receptionist."  
"How?"  
"By doing what I do best." He quickly preened his hair and straightened his clothes before strolling up to the lady at the reception. Within seconds she was already giggling and looking up him through her lashes with pouted lips.

 _Great._

 **-o-**

"What the hell are you-" Logan's hand grabbed the security guard in the room by the neck and slammed him down against the table with a crunch. He was immediately out cold.  
"Got a problem?" He asked as he noticed the expression on Charles' face.  
"I'm not that good with violence." He then remembered what needed to be done and took on the authoritative role. "Hank look for that file, Logan and I'll figure out the best way to get Emilia out." Logan found a large map of the building which showed where each patient stayed.

"It says over here that her room is in block C." Charles leaned over him and saw it was minutes away from the reception. "It wouldn't take long to get there and get back."  
"You forgot about getting her past the staff and out of her room without the other patients noticing." Logan then rubbed in stubble in thought at Charles' words.

"What if we cause a distraction in block A?" They looked at the block on the map and found it near the back of the building.  
"If we were to unlock all of the patients rooms in that block then the staff would be preoccupied with them, giving us plenty of time to get her out."  
"What about the security in the reception?" Logan asked.  
"We could lie and say we're charged with moving her to Trask?"  
"Or, I could deal with them." He offered while rubbing his knuckles.

"Found her file!" Hank called out. He then flicked through and landed on one of the pages. "Oh no."  
"What?"  
"It's not good news. They've crammed her with nearly every drug they have, no wonder she was so… y'know." His eyes flickered up to meet the others. "It's going to take time to get it out of her."  
"We don't have a lot of time."  
"Didn't they say her body processes it twice as fast?" Charles remembered. "Maybe it won't take as long to get it out of her system."

"That's not what we should be worrying about." He then checked the dates of when they had started treating her with them."They've been giving her these drugs for so long that her body is going to go through withdrawals."  
"Wait," Logan said, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "So you're saying she's addicted to the meds?"  
"Not really, it's just her body is so used to having it in her system that the detox is going to be hell."

A page slipped out and Hank bent down to pick it up. His face frowned at what he saw.  
"Charles, you're going to want to see this."  
"What is it?"  
"A visitation slip, look whose name is on it."

 _Raven Darkholme._

Charles looked back down to his hand at the blue pawn.

 _'The bird is here. She's flown through these halls many times except now all her feathers are gone.'_

"She tried to warn us." Charles realised.  
"What?"  
"The pawn, it's supposed to be Raven. And what she said about a bird being in these halls. The bird was a Raven, our Raven."

He scrambled to the security screens and noticed a tall blonde leaving the visiting rooms. Her hair was long and straight underneath the hat she wore, he noticed that she now had a fringe. She looked down both sides of the hall and went the opposite way the others had gone. She was heading straight towards block C.

"She's here, Raven's here."  
"Well then we've got to get to Emilia before Raven does."

Logan watched the screen as she rounded a corner, when she saw that the corridor was empty a blue ripple descended down her body and Logan recognised the scales she now marched in. It was too late, they all knew it. She then morphed herself into a security guard and carried on until she reached Emilia's door.

"At least we tried," Hank sighed. Then they all watched curiously as Raven bent down in her disguise. She opened the hatch that allowed you to send food through to the patient on the other side. Instead of food, she passed a small piece of paper. Then, she got up, looked around and left. _Huh,_ Logan thought to himself, _that was weird._

"Hank, unlock the doors to block A."  
"Are you sure?" Hank asked Charles.  
"Do it."

Logan knew that there were hundreds of things swirling around in Charles' head. One of them was who to go after: his sister or his ex-fiancée. Logan was ready to stop him going after Raven, they had come here for Emilia not to get sidetracked.

All hell broke lose after Hank finished his work as patient after patient began swarming out of their unlocked rooms. The guards in the C block instantly abandoned their station as they heard the shouts coming from the other end. Hank then unlocked Emilia's room and they waited for her to appear. Eventually, she came out. She tiptoed, searching side to side to see if anyone was there or if it were a trick. She clutched what Logan assumed was the paper Raven had just given in her hands.

She began to sprint.

"We'll meet her by reception and then get her out." Logan declared as they rushed out of the room. Julien looked at them and realised it was time to go. He gave a final wink before bidding the receptionist farewell. They waited for roughly thirty seconds when they heard a padding of feet coming from the hall beside them. A flash of white zoomed past them and they found themselves calling after her.

Her feet screeched on the floor as she came to halt. Hesitantly, she turned to them. Her blonde hair was matted and hid most of her face. In the proper light, they noticed how skinny and frail she looked. More scars and bruises were visible and the one which Hank had given her years ago marked her collarbone and chin. The girl who had been so unmoving and unresponsive earlier was gone, instead a new Emilia took her place and she stood there fidgeting, ready to break out into a run at any moment.

"Emmy, it's us," Charles said. "We've come to get you out." She took a step towards him, but still remained skeptical. He raised his hand out for her to take.

A crash came from behind them and they shot around. The doors behind them were open and there stood three guards, and they had all noticed Emilia.  
"Freeze!" They yelled. Charles then turned back to her.

Emilia bolted and did not look back.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm updating so much it's weird, I'm not used to it. I apologise if anyone takes offense at the way I represented the Institute Emilia is in, it is based on those in the 1960s/70s and they were notorious for mistreating their patients. So, what do you think of this chapter? What about finding out where Emilia was? Oooh and what do you think will happen in the next chapter? Where you surprised to meet Raven so soon? I don't know why I ask these questions no one answers them lmao.**

 **Is anyone going to be seeing the new Star Wars film? Apparently, the new trailer for Apocalypse will be out. I can't wait!**

 _ **Reviews:**_

 _jazu10501 \- Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying! x_

 _oXxgeorgiaxXo \- Haha Logan is fun to write, especially his reactions to things. Hope you enjoyed this one!xxx_

 _Guest \- In the last story it was revealed in the chapter "Violet Eyed Sinner" that Adela had predicted Emilia's death not her child's. (I think it was a slight plot twist? idk) :) x_

 **Thanks for all the reviews and stuff, they're the main reason I keep writing so thank you!**

 **Please review, that'd be awesome! I always reply in the next chapter or through PM! :)**


	4. Hello, Sweetie

**Chapter Three - Hello, Sweetie**

 **'It's easy for someone to joke about scars if they've never been cut.'  
**  
William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

* * *

Her bare feet slammed against the ground as she pushed herself to move faster. The concrete was hot against her skin. She wanted to look up at the sun, _I haven't seen you in so long,_ she wanted to laugh, cry and scream at it but she had to keep going. Her short legs charged forward with all their might, _take me away,_ she pleaded, _take me far away._

Someone yelled her name. She allowed herself to look over her shoulder and saw the Wolverine gaining on her. "Emilia, we've come to help!" She ignored him and kept sprinting. Her legs had begun to ache and sharp breathtaking pains came to her side. _You have to keep going._

She could hear the alarms screeching behind her, announcing that a patient had escaped. The electric gates in front of her began to close. _No,_ she felt her eyes tearing up, _I've made it this far you can't rip it away from me, not now._ She felt sweat trickling down her face. Her heart threatened to slam out of her chest as she was almost there.

There were eight steps to go.  
Emilia yelped as she stepped on a sharp rock.  
Now six steps.  
She pushed herself harder.  
Four steps.  
Her chest burnt.  
Two.  
There was hardly a gap between the metal.  
One.

She heard herself screeching as she launched out of the gates. Emilia slid sideways between the bars and barely managed to get out in one piece.

Then she felt someone hold her back.

She was slammed back against the metal and felt a sharp pain at the back of her head. She twisted around to find Logan gripping onto her cardigan. The gate sat in-between them, blocking them from each other. His arm had made its way through a gap and held onto her for dear life.

"You're not going anywhere, bub." She tried fighting against him but he held on too tight. He noticed her eyes widening at the sight behind him. He looked over his shoulder to find security rushing towards them.

"Get rid of them, please!" She begged. He attached the end of the knitted wool onto a spike on the gate, hoping that she wouldn't go anywhere while he dealt with the crowd.

The minute he turned away, she shrugged the cardigan off and sprinted once more.

The sun cast a warmth over her as she carried on. She soon found herself at the end of the driveway that allowed visitors to enter. Opposite her was a bustling main road filled with a variety of vehicles of all different shapes and forms.

 _This is the first time you've seen a car in years,_ said a voice as she could not help but stare. A deep metallic red was in front of her, a couple argued in the front whilst their child gaped at Emilia. She must have looked a sight, she thought as the child's mouth hung wide open. She was bent over, hands holding onto her bare knees as she tried to catch her breath when something propelled into her.

She felt herself being dragged into an alley a couple shops down and felt a gloved hand cover her mouth to silence her screams. _Oh my God,_ she thought as the gloves went tighter, panic running through her, _they've found me._

"Calm down, it's just me!" Her eyes opened to find Raven staring back at her. The blonde's hand fell down when she knew Emilia would be quiet.

"Raven?" Her eyes studied Raven as she looked her up and down. Her old friend's hair had changed, there was now a fringe nearly covering her eyes and her straightened locks were several shades lighter. Her top was cut off high, showing her toned stomach. She was as tall as ever, standing five inches above Emilia without heels.

"It's me," she then held out a pile of clothes, a hat was on top with a pair of shoes. "Put these on quick." Her eyes widened.

"Out here?"

"Quick!" Raven rushed her. She made sure no one came down the alley as Emilia changed. She glanced back once in awhile to check on how she was doing. She noticed scars wrapping their way around Emilia's body, some were pink and raw, and others were only just beginning to fade. She narrowed her eyes down at the ones on her ankles, she imagined ways they could both get revenge. _You'll have time for that later,_ Raven promised herself as she turned away, _you need to focus on what needs to be done._

Once she was done, Emilia followed her to a diner opposite the main road. The bell dinged when they entered, and Emilia blinked at the inside. It was outdated and looked like it still belonged in the 50's. The shoes she was given to wear clipped against the black and white tiled floor. The long red marbled counter held different flavours of ice cream. Her empty stomach would have growled at the raspberry flavoured one if she hadn't been so nervous. Raven led her to a small booth which she shuffled into, above them was a poster of a 50's pinup girl. Raven pulled the gloves off herself and then passed them to Emilia.

"For you." She took them, grateful. They matched the plain blue dress she was given to wear, small embroidered swirls patterned themselves around the material.  
"Thank you," she slid into them easily. They were soft on her skin and cooled the heat that had settled over her body. A curious glance was made at Raven. "How did you know I was there?" She shrugged as if it were simple.  
"I did some research."

Emilia's mind went back to who she had just run away from. She hadn't had the chance to look at them properly, she remembered Charles' hair had grown but everything was foggy before that.  
"They were there." She couldn't get his eyes out of her mind, the guilt she had once buried many years ago bit back again.  
"I know."  
"Why?"

"To get you out probably." Confusion coated her face. Why would everyone suddenly decide to break her out? Why now? Where had they all been when she had first been there.

"There's something you want, isn't there?" They all wanted something from her, she could tell. Raven traced a scratch in the table with her long nail.  
"I've come to ask you favour." She admitted. Emilia felt disheartened. She had hoped Raven had did it out of kindness, out of all the good times they had shared.  
"What is it?"

"I've found something out." Raven's voice was low, her eyes blazing. "A man named Bolivar Trask has been capturing mutants. He experiments on them, tortures them. We need to stop him."

"Trask?" She asked, memories slowly started flooding back to her. "I was going to be moved to his facility."  
"Then, I guess you were going to be his next victim." Before she had time to register everything, Raven went on. "I think he might have killed people we know." Emilia shot up.

"Sean?"  
"Maybe, Azazel as well."  
"But you're not sure?" She clinged to the hope that her friend could still be alive.  
"No, I'm not sure."

"Did Azazel mean a lot to you?" Raven did not answer, instead she flicked through the menu with what seemed like disinterest. However, Emilia swore that she saw Raven's eyes water before she ducked behind the flimsy plastic. Emilia didn't press any further, she rubbed her head as a headache took over.

"Will you help me?"

 _'Kill him?'_ She wanted to ask, _'Raven, I can't kill a fly let alone a human being.'_ But she found herself staring at the smudged make up beneath Raven's left eye and heard another voice take over her.

"Yes," she answered. "I'll help you."  
"You promise?"  
"I promise."

Raven's lips then began to move but Emilia heard no sound. She strained to hear what she was saying but couldn't concentrate on anything but the pain pulsing through her head.

"Aren't you cold?" Emilia asked as her hands clutched at the leather jacket given to her, attempting to cocoon herself into a bundle of warmth. Raven raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Em', it's the middle of summer, how can you be cold?"

Before she could answer the bell chimed signalling someone's entrance. Both of their heads whipped to the door and watched as four men entered. Logan was the first, he held her cardigan close and took a sniff out of it.

"He tracked your scent." When Emilia turned back she found a woman with black bushy hair and dark eyes take in Raven's place. Emilia wasn't able to morph into anyone, not while she was like this. "You alright?" The disguised Raven asked as she noticed Emilia's breathing becoming raspy.

"I think I'm going to faint." Raven grabbed her gloved hand and led the way out. At the sudden upheaval, Emilia felt the room spin around her and clutched onto her tighter. She made sure to dip her hat so the group of men wouldn't see her face. She felt her heart hammering as she found herself only a few steps away from the door. It then swung open again as a couple entered, she felt a gust of wind crash against her face. She peeked back and saw Logan's nose twitch as her scent was thrown back at him. She pushed Raven out of the door and began to sprint before he could turn around.

They raced towards the end of the street hand in hand. Emilia ended up being dragged along by Raven as she struggled to keep up. The shoes she wore rubbed harshly against her heel as they dove into a street full of traffic. It was like a maze, they flew in between hundreds of mystery cars not knowing where they'd end up. Many people honked at them, some shouted which caused Emilia to flinch whilst Raven rolled her eyes.

It was when they reached the post office Emilia gave up.

"I can't," Raven jolted to a halt as Emilia crashed against the wall. "I'm going to throw up, I can't run anymore." She slid against the rough exterior and only then did Raven realise how sick Emilia looked in broad daylight. She looked washed out with huge dark bags under her eyes. Sweat ran down in beads from her head as she struggled to remain upright, Raven knew that it wasn't just from the running. _What did they do to you?_ She wanted to know. Instead, Emilia grasped onto her hand.

"Go," she told her. "Go without me, I'll meet you."  
"The Paris Peace Accords are in a couple days, think you'll be alright by then?"  
"I'll try."

Raven let go of her and began to back away. She wanted to say something but couldn't manage any words as she took in the sight before her. Gone was the woman who had once took Raven's breath away just by smiling, now sat a blonde shell who Raven barely recognised. Raven then left, leaving her on the side of the street.

Emilia sat alone and felt herself curl into a ball as her body felt as cold as ice. Then, after a couple of breaths, she felt she was going to suffocate when her body became abnormally hot. She then felt footsteps stop next to her and looked up to see a familiar face. She managed a faint smile. Charles looked at her with pity filing his eyes as her lips continued to upturn.

"Hello, sweetie."

* * *

 **A/N: The reason I've been so late in updating is because I've been planning a new fanfic, plus it's Christmas. (Kudos for me for writing on Christmas Day?)**

 **So, all I'm going to ask is would anyone want to read a Star Wars: The Force Awakens fic with the character Poe Dameron? I've planned a pretty kickass OC out as well.**

Anyway, on to the reviews:

 **oXxgeorgiaxXo:** _I'M SORRY I MADE YOU WAIT FOR THIS CHAPTER! I never meant to but exams came up and then Star Wars came out and oh I'm emotional wreck don't get me started on that movie. I don't think anyone liked Charles' shirt and I can't wait to see Emilia's reaction towards it when she realises what he's wearing :) xx_

 **anonymouscsifan:** _I'd say to take a chance on the movie (it's generally quite good, ALOT of parallels to A New Hope though), I enjoyed it. I mostly say that because of the characters were really well written and different to what you usually see. The plot is a bit similar to A New Hope though. But it was a great film, in fact I'm writing a fanfic on it if you want to check that out when it's out. :) x_

 _Guest: I will make a fic for Apocalypse, I know one or two things I'm going to write for it but it depends on how the movie is. I hope it's going to be good! x_

 **Thank you to everyone who's reviewed, followed, faved, you're all stars! Hope everyone enjoys the holidays!**

 **P.S. Someone please get back to me on whether or not they'd read the new fanfic, I'll probably upload it anyway but it'd be nice to know a few people will be looking forward to it!**


	5. She Wants Revenge

**Chapter 4 - She Wants Revenge**

 **'If you poison us, do we not die?**  
 **And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?'**

\- William Shakespeare

* * *

Detox was hell.

Logan had carried her from the street into the car, Julien and Charles fussed over her like mother hens. The argument started when they laid her down on the seats.

"I'll sit with her," Julien announced.

"No," Charles interrupted. "I will." He motioned for Julien to move. He did not.

"Sit in the front," the blonde told him. Before Charles could reply, Logan interrupted.

"I'll sit by her head," he barged past them as he spoke and sat by her. Her silver-gold hair fell in waves around his lap. When he shifted the hair that obscured her face, he found that she was out cold.

Julien and Charles continued to bicker through the entire drive.

"We'll take her back home, Adrienne will know what to do."

"Thank you for your suggestion, Julien, but Hank is more than capable of looking after Emilia."

"Are you serious? You guys can barely look after yourselves, let alone someone who just escaped a mental asylum."

Logan focused on tuning them out and stared outside the window. Everything blurred past them as they drove at a fast speed. Emilia made a small noise and shuffled in her sleep. He looked down to find her facing him. Although they'd never met before today he felt like she was familiar. Of course he knew her, she was The Supreme, William Stryker's favourite test subject. But they had never met.

Or had they?

There was a small scar on her chin, it was familiar to him.

He brushed these thoughts away when they decided to take her back to the mansion. When they got her in there she continued to sleep. When she woke up the entirety of her time was spent going through different moods.

Like he said, detox was hell.

She felt cold, and yet far too hot at the same time. It washed over her in waves. One minute she wanted to be covered in blankets, but then felt like she was going to suffocate the second they put them over her.

She couldn't sleep. They tried convincing her to sleep it off, Logan knew she wanted to, desperately, but she stayed awake. Sometimes she dozed off a little but ended up having hallucinogenic dreams, so vivid that she woke up and would wonder aloud to them, asking where all the strange shapes went.

Food seemed like it wasn't worth it anymore. She complained to Julien that it didn't taste good, and it didn't feel good. Only her growling stomach was enough to force her to eat. Despite her not being hungry, they'd find Emilia looking in the fridge, hoping there'd be something to satisfy the way she felt.

Hallucinations became normal, she spoke of seeing different people from her past, present and future.

"I saw them!" Logan had walked in on her and Charles arguing. "They were right there!"  
"Emilia, it was only Hank." She stabbed her finger at him.  
"You're lying!"

Lastly, she was confused and lost. She had spent an entire hour wandering from room to room looking for something. She admitted to Logan eventually that she didn't know what she was looking for to begin with. She hoped that a solution would pop up. That, or she needed to use the bathroom. She was never sure which.

Hank was confused at how fast the detox was going.

"By this rate she'll be done in a few days, maybe even less." Charles had frowned, worry marking his face.  
"That's not normal."  
"The only explanation I have is that her body is able to process things twice as fast because of her mutation."

Logan turned back and found Emilia wandering around the mansion. He sighed, knowing it was his turn to sit her back down.

"What're you looking for?" He asked as he came to her side. She stared into a cupboard. She mumbled incoherently and continued searching through it. "What'd you say?"  
"I said," her voice was strangely calm. "I'm looking for Raven." He raised an eyebrow.  
"You're not going to find her in there." She scoffed at him.  
"Just you wait."

He left her rummaging through the cupboard that was half her height.

-o-

"You want something from me," she told Charles hours later. It was the middle of the day and they had spent the last nineteen hours looking after her. They all surrounded the table, Julien and Logan sat whilst Hank and Charles were bent over a map. Charles turned to find her half way down the stairs wearing a dressing gown that had once fitted perfectly but now hung off her. Her hair was tied up high showing off the scar on her chin and the ones that covered her neck that he had not noticed before. He felt Hank shift uncomfortably next to him at the reminder of what had happened years ago.

"Emilia, you should be resting," he told her. She ignored him, which had become common as of late and carried on down the stairs.  
"What do you want?" She asked, she was shivering underneath her gown.  
"For you to be home, for you to be safe," he raised his hand out to walk her back. "Now, come on you should go back to bed."

"No, you should tell me the truth," her arms were crossed tightly. "I want to know why suddenly everyone wants me to be their best friend again." An uncomfortable silence settled between all of them. "Well?" She demanded, her eyes narrowed causing them to look away.

"We were hoping you'd help us break Erik out and stop Raven," Logan finally admitted. Charles waited for an emotional outburst of her wondering why they hadn't gone just for her and not any other motives. He was ready to stop it. _It wasn't like that,_ was what he planned to say, _I wanted you safe._ But, yet all he got was a raised brow directed at him.

"You want me to break out the man who not only killed Kennedy," she pointed at Charles. "But paralyzed you, made your sister join his cult of deranged mutants and attacked me?"

"That's the one," Julien sighed whilst rubbing his hand over the scruff of his face.  
"And they thought I was the crazy one," Emilia mumbled.

She seemed to be in deep thought, despite what she'd just said. They all waited knowing that she was considering. Charles could see the cogs turning silently in her head.

"What do I get out of it?" His eyes widened.  
"Sorry, what?"  
"You heard me, what do I get? You think just because you've been looking after me that I'm going to help?" Before Charles could reply, Logan butted in.

"You'd be saving millions of people."  
"Sounds heroic, but I don't like Erik," she then gave a sinister smile to Logan. "And I think we both know that your future doesn't concern me-"

"What do you want?" Charles interrupted, stopping them. She raised her hand and began to number off the different items.

"Money, a fake passport and Chanel perfume would be a good start."  
"How much money?" Hank and Julien gave him a look of disbelief while Emilia gave a sweet smile.

"As much as you can give without going bankrupt." A strange feeling made its way through him as he looked at her. Never had she wanted his money, now here she was, grinning wildly and him, fully prepared to pay her hundreds just for her to cooperate.

Logan had other ideas.

"I don't have time for this," he growled. "I know a guy, he'd be a teenager now, we can ask him for help." Charles came to his side and pleaded.  
"Just give her some time," he whispered. "She'll come around."

"We don't have time," Logan glanced at her and saw her staring at the vase. "She's ill Charles," he then realised his words and sighed. "Maybe not mentally but she's physically weak."

"I'm still here," she called out to them but her eyes remained on the vase. "...unfortunately," she then added.  
"Fine," he grumbled. "We'll do it your way. Hank get the phone book."

He turned back to Emilia and found her smiling even though her deal had just fallen through.

"So," she spoke with a smugness. "It's the blind leading the blind."

She trailed back up the stairs and he found himself watching her, making sure she didn't fall.

-o-

Half hour later he was knocking at her door.

"Emilia?" He called and waited. He was met with an eery silence. He knocked again and then pushed the door slightly. "Em?" A flurry of fear went through Charles and he barged in, assuming the worst.

He found her asleep against the seat, her bones jutting out against the skin on her face from how thin she had become. There was a frown on her face and she opened one eye.

"I was about to fall asleep."

"I'm sorry," he said and glanced around the room. It was exactly the way it had been left years ago, the books she had forgotten were still in their places, as were her clothes and bedding. It was a surprise that a layer of a dust of hadn't marked everything. Then he remembered asking the cleaner weekly to do Emilia's room first, just incase she came back. The same went for Raven's. This had been going on for years.

The sun creeped through the curtains and highlighted the left side of her body. Her arm was bare and he noticed the scars wrapped around them.

"I'm so sorry," he said again. This time it wasn't for waking her. Self-consciously, she hid her arm underneath the blanket. There was a hostile silence between them and he didn't dare to break it. She opened her other eye knowing what he meant. She scanned him and then changed the conversation.

"You're leaving me then?" He bit his lip.  
"Only for a few hours."

"Alone?" She asked, surprised that he'd trust her.  
"With Julien and Adrienne." She gave a small smile, of course they wouldn't leave her alone. She then played with the frayed edges of the blanket.

"Will you come back for me, before you go to Paris?" She asked.  
"I don't think that's-"  
"I've always wanted to go to Paris," she interrupted. "Do you know why?"

"Because deep down you're a hopeless romantic?" He teased, hoping she'd at least chuckle like she was once used to.

"No." A strange look came on her face. "Because no one bothers with you if you don't speak the language."

She turned back around and drew the covers over her head.

-o-

Not long after, they drove her and Julien to a familiar white house that stood alone. The minute she stepped out of the car Adrienne enveloped her with the first hug she'd had in years. Emilia clutched onto her, not wanting her cinnamon scented body to leave.

"I missed you," Adrienne admitted.  
"I missed you too."

"Aunt Em'?" Asked a small voice. She looked behind Adrienne to find a young blonde. The dye in her hair was beginning to fade and it was easy to see where the green was slowly coming through. Maisie then ran into Emilia's arms causing Emilia to let out a huff at the sudden movement.

"Hey sweet pea," She then frowned at her Goddaughter as she held onto her tightly. "You've gotten taller then me!"

"I'm the second tallest in my class," she sheepishly admitted. A strange feeling went through Emilia, it was almost remorseful as she realised how fast the child who had once only been able to reach her chin had grown.

"We'll be back," interrupted Hank. "Give us a couple of hours." Adrienne nodded but did not speak, Emilia could tell she was glad to see them leave.

They both turned their backs and went into the house as Julien bid the others farewell.

"Is there anything you want to do?" Adrienne asked the minute they entered the house.  
"I'd like a bath," she admitted.

"That can be arranged." Emilia had barely taken in the room before she was whisked upstairs. She waited in her old bedroom while Adrienne filled the tub, insisting to dote on her. It was exactly the way she left it, except neater then she remembered. She sat up straight on the bed and found herself unable to relax. She twirled her thumbs around anxiously.

Soon, Adrienne entered and then walked with her to the bathroom. Emilia, who had taken her shoes off by the door, found herself shivering as her bare feet touched the tiles. The room was a mixture of brown and green which caused her to blink in surprise. It seemed that over the course of the two years she had been gone neither Julien or Adrienne had improved their sense of style.

Emilia stood there, moving foot to foot waiting for her to leave. A conflicted look crossed Adrienne's face.  
"Should I stay?" She asked.

"I can bathe myself," she snapped. Both of their eyes widened. "I'm sorry," she immediately said. "It's just that everyone's treating me like I'm a child."  
"That must be frustrating." Emilia began peeling her clothes off, no longer caring about privacy.

"It is," she responded while tearing off her top. "It's like they think I'm this fragile, broken thing."  
"Are you?" Emilia was left clad in only her underwear. She saw a glimpse of herself in the mirror and saw the bones poking through her skin and the scars covering her body.

 _I don't know._

Adrienne then left her alone and Emilia turned away from the mirror, not liking what she saw. She climbed into the bath with shaky legs after she was completely undressed. The water instantly burnt her skin and she winced as she sunk down. After getting used to the heat, she felt herself drifting and closed her eyes.

 _She felt herself being dragged back onto a bed that wasn't hers. A strangers hands gripped her wrists tight and then tied them down to her sides. Next were her ankles so she'd stop kicking. She felt herself screaming for them to let her go but they ignored her. They wedged something into her mouth so she wouldn't bite through her tongue during the treatment and she felt herself begin to gag._

 _"Sit still and count to ten, it'll all be over soon," said a doctor's voice. She felt them clasp something onto her temples._

 _Then they turned the power on._

 _Her body began to violently shake as a thousand lights went on and off in her head. Her screams quieted down and were replaced with a pounding in her head._

Then it stopped.

She opened her eyes from the nightmare and woke up screaming. Except the noise was stopped from the water she was submerged in. She yanked herself out of the bathwater and then felt someones arms hold on to her. She went to bat them away but realised that they were Adrienne's. She fell into Adrienne's arms and felt herself being cradled.

"It's okay," Adrienne soothed. "It's okay, you're safe." She felt her eyes begin to sting and she clenched them shut.

 _Emilia Jones doesn't cry,_ she told herself.

But right now it was the one thing she wanted to do.

-o-

Adrienne had stayed with her and made sure that she wouldn't fall asleep again. When every inch of her body was clean and shaved she was happy enough to leave. She wore a white dress Adrienne laid out for her as all of her old clothes were too big and no longer fit. The empire waist dress would have stopped by Adrienne's thighs, however, due to Emilia's short physique, it stopped at her knees. A sheer material covered her arms and the style reminded her of a trumpet sleeve.

Adrienne and Maisie helped with her hair as she sat crossed legged in front of them. She watched in the mirror silently as they put a straight centre parting in her hair.

"It's gotten so long," Adrienne commented. It was by her waist and she felt Adrienne's hands run through it.  
"We should curl it." Maisie then rummaged through a bag full of hair supplies.

"No," Adrienne replied.  
"Why not?" Emilia asked, silently wanting to be fussed over.

"There's too much hair and we don't have enough time." Emilia turned at her words.  
"Where we going?" Adrienne shifted, almost uncomfortable.  
"There's been a change of plan," she explained. "We're meeting them earlier."

Emilia bit her lip and turned back, now nervous.

-o-

The drive was long and Emilia believed that it was never going to end. Julien had offered to stop for food for her three times, she had told him no each time. Eventually they forced her to try to eat at least an apple. She nibbled around the sides but to her it tasted like nothing and she ended up passing it to Maisie to finish.

Eventually they rolled up into a large empty parking lot. The only thing in it was a plane, designed by Hank McCoy himself. She recognised the familiar 'X' symbol on the side of it. They came to a halt when they noticed five figures waiting for them.

"You need a couple of minutes?" Julien asked. Her head rested against the cold window, she attempted to soothe the headache she had through its temperature. "It's coming back, isn't it?" He asked, knowing what her headaches usually meant. She gave a feeble nod.

Her mutation had not been its usual self lately. By lately, she meant the past year. The more drugs they had injected her with, the less she was able to use her mutation. The last time she was able to read someone's mind was over a year ago and now she could maybe overhear a sentence or two from a person's mind. Her headache indicated that just maybe things would be going back to normal.

She opened the car door and stepped into a puddle. She frowned as it leaked through her shoe, but turned back to the Costello's.  
"Thank you, for everything." Julien nodded while Adrienne leaned back and made sure Emilia had her luggage. Maisie did not look her way.

She leaned back in and put a comforting hand on the young girl.

"Your face will get stuck like that if you don't smile," she teased. Maisie said nothing. "What's wrong?" Maisie fidgeted in her seat and then sighed.  
"The last time you left you didn't come back," she explained. "They said you'd be gone for two weeks but we weren't allowed to see you for two years." Emilia's arms wrapped themselves around her Goddaughter.

"I'll always come back," Emilia then kissed the top of her head. "I don't leave without saying goodbye."  
"But you did," Maisie argued. "You did leave." Realising that she wouldn't win this argument, Emilia turned and opened her bag. She dug through her items and brought out a book.

"Look after it for me," she told her. "It's all I really have left." Maisie gently took the frayed book from her and she felt her fingers trail over the cover.  
"The Hobbit?" She asked. Emilia managed a smile.  
"My dad gave it to me, a long time ago." She began to get out of the car. "I'll come back for it but you enjoy it first."

Maisie smiled and already began opening the pages to read. Emilia gave a nod to the couple in front, both knowing that she wasn't fond of goodbyes. She began to walk away to the others, hoping that she looked a good deal better than she had the last time they saw her.

"Emilia?" A voice called. A chill went through her. Whether it was from the air against her bare legs or the voice itself, she did not know.

She looked up to find a face she had not seen in years.

 _Liar, murderer, thief._ Hundreds of names went through her head until focused on one.

"Erik," she replied, stopping in her walk. "What an awful surprise."

She then smiled and then it was Erik's turn to feel a bitter chill.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back! I've finished two chapters in one day, this one and the one for Star Wars. If you haven't checked it out then I'd appreciate it if you do.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Guest:** Yay Poe!  
 **anonymouscsifan:** Thank you! Yeah, I think Charles would have generally gone and helped IF he had known but apart from that everyone just wants her to help them for their own personal gain at the moment. In this chapter she realises that so she begins asking for something in return. However, what Raven, Erik and the others don't know is that she's struggling with her mutation because of the detox. Things will be explained between Charles and the baby soon, it won't be particularly be nice to write about as I sort of regret making them break up and then lose it but I know it'll add to the story and the characters. Thank you, I hope you had a good new years! :) x  
 **adela:** Thank you! :)  
 **PorcelainPuppetLady:** THANK YOU I'M GLAD YOU'RE ENJOYING.  
 **scrawlx1012:** I did, it was pretty cool :) **  
ThePhantomismyLove:** Hope you enjoyed this one! **  
Guest:** Wow! Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying.  
 **shugokage:** Thank you!  
 **Civic1980:** I LOVE you! So do I hahaha!

THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE REVIEWS AND FOLLOWS/FAVES! IT MEANS ALOT!


	6. She Gets Revenge

**Chapter 6 - She Gets Revenge**

 **'To be free is often to be lonely.'**

\- W.H. Auden

* * *

She looked better than she had before. Her hair was neatly pinned back and braided, it was almost as white as the dress she wore. Her pale structure now faced Erik and she was reminded of the time where he had seen her after the CIA fiasco.

 _'You look like hell,'_ he had once told her. Then he had chuckled and she had laughed uncontrollably. She looked much better now than she did then in terms of clothes. She looked down and wondered if it was the scars on her wrists that was unpleasant. She realised as she looked up that it was her face. Her skin had became a dull colour from the amount of time she was kept inside. Her bones also dangerously poked out against her flesh, causing her face to look slightly stretched.

"It's good to see you, old friend." His eyes flickered to her hair and smirked. "I like what you've done with your hair." She chose to ignore him and began to walk to the stairs leading up to the plane.

A gust of air blew past her along with a flash of silver and she felt something beside her.

"Who are you?" She jumped in surprise as she found herself face to face with a silver haired teenager.  
"Emilia," she replied after remembering his question.

"I'm Peter." His eyebrows then raised in realisation. "You're the girl they were talking about before."

"Am I?" Her eyes flickered back to the group behind them, curious to what had been said. She looked back and took in the teen. Although he was probably more than ten years her younger, he was at least eight inches taller than her which forced her to crane her neck up at him.

She found her head tilting as she focused on him. He looked familiar. But she could not place her finger on how. His dark eyes were strangers but his lips reminded her of someone, as did the lines between his brows when he frowned at her.

"Have we met?" She than asked. He shook his head and she felt someone come behind them.

"Excuse Emilia," Erik told the boy. "She's a bit unhinged."  
"Excuse Erik," she replied. "He's a pain in the arse."

She then stormed off, her bag hitting her side violently she marched away. Erik watched her leave with a chuckle whilst Peter barrelled him with thousands of questions.

"You annoy her or something, dude? You have history with her? She doesn't like you, does she? Hey, she's one of us, right? I can tell by the hair. So, what'd you do man, what'd you do?"

Erik tore his eyes away from her and opened his mouth to reply. However, he found that he had forgotten everything that Peter had just said. He shook his head and left the teen to himself.

Another gust of wind hit Emilia with force and she found her bag tumbling out of her clutch. As she shot out to catch it she found it in the boy from earlier's hands. He wore a playful grin as she swore that he winked at her.

"Want me to take your bag?" Before she could answer the bag was gone and another gust of wind blew her dress up as he returned.

"So that's your mutation," she said as she held down her dress. "You're super fast?"  
"I guess," he shrugged it off. He then motioned towards the plane. "So you're going to Paris?" She nodded.

"Are you?"  
"Nah," he then bit his lip at her. "Hey, you fancy meeting up sometime when you get back?"

Logan had been watching the entire conversation. He stood by Hank and leaned in slightly.

"Think he knows she's twice his age?" Hank looked up at the pair.  
"I don't even think she's realised that he's flirting with her," Hank then rethought his words. "Well... attempting to flirt anyway."

Logan made his way over to them, he made a poor attempt to hide a smile at Emilia's reactions to the teen's words.

"Come on, blondie," he said, pushing her away. "You're not going to be a cougar on my watch." She looked up at Logan with furrowed brows and a few seconds passed until her mouth fell into an 'O' in realisation .

They then made their way onto the plane, Logan allowing Emilia to go on first. She picked the seat furthest from the entrance that allowed her to turn her back to whoever entered. It was the best seat to avoid everyone.

He sat down right beside her.

"You know there's other seats, right?" He then smiled at her as she inched away.

"But this is the only one next to you."

She turned her head away and looked out the window, he noticed a small smile that she was trying to hide.

"So this is your job? To watch over me?"  
"Maybe."

Soon, Erik joined them. He wandered past them and reached out for the newspaper on their table. Logan's claws tore out his skin and held the paper down, causing Erik to move away. Emilia grimaced in disgust at the sight of them against his open flesh.

"Imagine if they were metal," Erik taunted. As he sat down across from them Emilia tilted her body away, not wanting to see him. "Where did they dig you up?"

"You're gonna find this hard to believe... but, uh, you sent me." Emilia and Erik both stared at him confused. "You and Charles. From the future."

Logan explained what happened, now that Emilia was in a better frame of mind, she began to understand what had happened.

"You probably shouldn't smoke that in here," she told him when she heard Charles and Hank enter. He gave a curious glance as he did nothing about the cigar.

"Why?" He took another puff out of it.

"My tolerance for your smoking is beginning to run out and so is his."

"Of course it is," he sighed. He then pushed the butt against his palm, extinguishing the light.

"Couldn't you have put it out another way?" He ignored her words and pressed down harder. "If you keep doing that then I'll make sure you'll spend the rest of your life thinking you're a seven year old girl," she warned.

His thoughts went back to a day where he had been with an older professor who had said the exact same thing.

"I had a feeling he could do that," he murmured as he glanced over at Charles.

"Oh, he can't, not right now," Emilia interrupted. A sly smile came across her face. "But I can." He ignored her like she had ignored him earlier and the cigar went further against his skin.

"That's disgusting," she commented as she watched him.

"Anyone ever tell you to not argue with anyone bigger than you?" He asked, amused at her small frame.

"Then I wouldn't be able to argue with anyone."

-0-

She was sat there an hour later beating her fingers to a tune of a song in her head. The beat was the only sound in the plane. Logan watched her closely in case she decided to bail, his fingers urged for him to light another cigar but whenever he went to reach for it he saw her brow raise. He then begrudgingly moved his hands away. Behind them sat Charles who was glaring at Erik.

The tension became thicker as Logan gave a warning look to Emilia. Her fingers froze and the beat stopped.

"How did you lose them?" Emilia jumped as Erik broke the silence.

"The treatment for my spine affects my DNA," Charles replied.

"You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?"

"I sacrificed my powers so that I could sleep," his voice then turned bitter. "What do you know about it?"

"I've lost my fair share." She prayed quietly that they wouldn't argue as she twisted a piece of hair around her finger. A cold laugh left Charles' mouth and she knew her prayer went ignored.

"Dry your eyes, Erik. It doesn't justify what you've done."  
"You have no idea what I've done," Erik replied, his eyes challenging Charles.

"I know you took the things that meant the most to me."  
"Well maybe you should have fought harder for them."

Only then did Emilia turn around as Charles stood up full of anger.

"If you want a fight Erik, I will give you a fight!"

"Sit down," Logan said, speaking the words she wished she could.

"Let him come," Erik growled. Charles launched forward and seized Erik by the front of his shirt. Emilia shot up out of her seat.

"You abandoned me!" Charles shouted, his voice breaking. "You took her away and you abandoned me!"

Emilia's eyes found Hanks as he looked back from his pilot seat. Before she could ask him to help calm them down she felt the table beneath her shake.

"Angel, Azazel," as the names left his mouth she felt herself being pulled down. "Emma, Banshee. Mutant brothers and sisters, all dead!"

She looked across to find Logan holding her down as the plane began to fall. Charles fell down after losing his balance. Tables began to overturn and everything that wasn't being held onto crashed onto the floor.

"Countless others experimented on, butchered!"  
"Erik!" Hank called in warning as the plane lowered dangerously.

"Where were you, Charles?!" He shouted as Charles held onto the wall tightly. "We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your own people needed you?! Hiding! You, Emilia and Hank! Pretending to be something you're not!"

"Erik!" Hank called again as he desperately tried to stop the jet from crashing.

"You abandoned us all!"

There was a brief pause before the plane began to rise again as Erik let go. Hank took control once more and she stayed still as Logan took a sigh of relief. Charles, who was on the floor, looked up as the plane regained its balance. He gave a fleeting look then turned and made his way to the cockpit.

The second Charles sat down, Emilia turned and grabbed her bag. She hurried away to the back of the plane, head down in shame. Erik and Logan watched her until she disappeared out of sight.

Logan reached forward and grabbed the cigar he had been itching for. He raised an eyebrow as he began to light it.

"So you were always an asshole?"

-o-

Logan joined her an hour later and he almost laughed.

She was vandalising one of the tables with a red marker, Lord knows where she got it from. Logan didn't stop her as he noticed her eyebrows creased in concentration and her arms spread wider. He took a step backwards, still watching her as he left. Eventually, he turned his back on her and he made his way to the cockpit. Erik took no notice of Logan's retreat as he was fixated on learning from the newspapers everything he'd missed. When Logan reached Hank and Charles he found them in silence.

"I think you're going to need a new table," Logan announced. Charles turned in confusion, then looked at the back of the plane and saw white-gold hair moving frantically. He pushed his way to the back and found himself moving to her side.

"You alright?" He asked. She mumbled out a yes and continued sketching. She grabbed another coloured pen and began drawing more. "You know that's a table you're drawing on, not paper?" She hummed a response as she swirled the marker. Slowly, Charles' hand reached out and went on top of hers. Her hand stopped drawing once it came in contact with his skin. He plucked the marker from the fingers and they both stared at what she had created.

"Who is it?" Charles asked, his voice just above a whisper, as he stared at the young man she'd drawn. Her face scrunched up.  
"I'm not sure," she admitted. He dragged his eyes away from the man to her.

"You don't look well," he noted as took in her pale face.  
"I don't feel that good," she admitted. Then a gag came from her and she barged past Charles to rush to the toilet.

Logan took a couple steps forward after her before Charles followed. He stopped after he heard her bring up the food they had given her and his eyes wandered over to the drawing.

His heart stopped.  
He felt it beat faster as he rounded the table.

Staring back at him was William Stryker.

Suddenly, memories began to resurface as he stared at the cold eyes.

 _Being pushed down into water, his claws coming and a blonde._

He stiffened. He didn't know her, he had never met her but when he closed his eyes he was going closer to her.

 _When she turned around he still didn't recognise her, not until he noticed the small scar on her chin that ended long and jagged on her chest._

 _"Emilia?" His past self breathed out in surprise._

Before she replied he heard himself gasp and found himself back in the present, staring at the drawing.

Maybe he did know her after all.

-o-

They left her alone for the night, at her request of course. Where she was sitting was so far back that no one bothered coming to that area, except Erik. He stopped by her seat as he stared up at the cupboard next to her, hands on hips.

"The Chess set is in the second drawer," she murmured as she fiddled with the pen in her hand.

"Thanks," he responded as pulled the box out.

To her surprise he sat opposite her. She watched him as he opened the set up.

"I can't play," she admitted as he placed the King.

"I wasn't asking you too."

Her clutch on the pen became harder. A hint of a smile threatened to break through as he looked up at her face.

"You haven't changed a bit."  
"You have," he replied as he took in her appearance. He then turned back to the board and continued setting it up. When he was done she watched him carry the board to Charles who was drinking.

"Fancy a game?" He asked as he set it down. "It's been a while." Charles turned his head away and refused to look at him.  
"I'm not in the mood for games, thank you."

Erik halted for a moment before leaning over and picking up an empty tumbler.  
"I haven't a real slip in ten years," he admitted whilst pouring himself a drink. Charles glanced over as Erik took a sip, not knowing where he was going with this. When the glass had been drained, he stared down at it and twirled it between his fingers. "I didn't kill the president."

"The bullet curved, Erik," Charles replied instantaneously.  
"Because I was trying to save him," he revealed. Emilia stopped tapping her pen and listened closely. "They took me out before I could."

Charles looked back over, frowning in confusion.  
"Why would you try and save him?"  
"Because he was one of us."

She watched with interest as Charles looked at him in surprise. There was a few moments of silence before a sad chuckle left him.

"You must think me so foolish. You've always said they would come after us."  
"I never imagined they'd use Raven and Emilia's DNA to do it."

At the mention of her name she dug her head down. She felt their eyes drift to the back of the plane where she sat. She ignored them and continued drawing on the napkin. She placed the pen between her teeth as she stared thoughtfully at the picture she had drawn. It was a building she had seen in a dream. Outside there were cars lined up and men in suits were making their way through the crowds.

She began to drift in and out of their conversation as an ache made its way to the centre of her head.

"You should be proud of her, Charles." She heard Erik say a few minutes after. "She's out there fighting for our cause." She scoffed at his words as she rubbed her forehead and then focused on shading the shadows of the faces of people in her sketch. Then she felt herself flick the napkin over, as another picture came to mind. She heard herself gasp and the ache began to split through her head. She felt a familiar sensation grow up her spine and then she felt herself being pulled.

 _She saw Raven, bare in her blue scales clutching a gun. She was beside her, ready to act if anything failed. But then Raven was leaping out of a shattered window and Emilia was being tackled to the ground._

"Everything alright back there?"

She blinked as the voice brought her out of the vision. She looked up to find Erik and Charles staring back at her. A smile broke through and she felt herself tap her feet against the floor in excitement.

Her mutation was coming back.

"Everything's fine!" She then jumped up. "I need more napkins." She hurried down the aisle past them but stopped abruptly when Charles stood.  
"Take it slow," he warned and then eyed the amount of napkins she had picked up. "Do you really need fifty napkins?"  
"You're right," she then reached out for the rest. "I should take more."

"What happened?" Logan asked as she past him, curious at the change of behaviour.  
"Headache!" She replied, almost joyful.

When she sat she began to sketch frantically, focusing on Raven curling up into a ball mid-air. The napkin began to tear as she pressed down harder from the excitement.

"She left because you got inside her head," she heard Charles reply to something Erik said.  
"That's not my power, she made a choice."

"But now we know where that choice leads, don't we?" Emilia froze, her visions had not taken her that far. "Raven and Emilia are going to murder Trask, they're going to capture them, and then they're going to wipe us out."

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She hadn't been listening properly when Logan was explaining that part of it.

"Not if we get to her first. Not if we change history tomorrow." She turned back down to her drawings. There were twenty odd spread in front of her. "What happened to Emilia?" She heard Erik whisper. She felt Charles' eyes on her and buried herself into her work. She eavesdropped as he quietly explained about her being placed in an institution.

"I don't think she can use her mutation," he finally said. She bit her lip, she'd hoped that he wouldn't have picked up on that.  
"What?"

"I've tried to catch her attention through my thoughts, she hasn't picked up on them."  
"Maybe she's just ignoring you," Erik bit back and she felt Charles' eyes leave her. "What did they do to her?"

"Electroshock therapy, amongst other things," he explained. She struggled to swallow as she was reminded of where she'd only been two days ago.  
"I saw the scars." She pulled the sleeves down past her wrist to not be reminded.

"They were planning on moving her to Trask industries." Her thoughts went to Sean. _You could have ended up like him._

"What happened to the baby?" Erik then asked. When Charles didn't reply he spoke again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

Emilia felt herself close her eyes and waited for someone to speak.

"We lost it," he eventually replied. There was a brief pause before Erik spoke.  
"How long after?" She was surprised that his voice sounded sympathetic.  
"A month."

"I'm sorry, Charles, for what happened, I truly am."

She shrugged the stinging in her eyes away by finishing her drawing. She heard the sound of a glass hitting the table.

"It's been awhile since I've played." She glanced up to see Charles pushing up his sleeves.  
"I'll go easy on you," Erik replied. "Might finally be a fair fight."

"You have the first move."

-o-

An hour later and their game was coming to a slow end. There was silence with the exception of chess pieces hitting the board. Her eyes were threatening to shut as she rested her head against the small window. A low murmur came from the front of the plane and she then heard someone's footsteps. She rubbed her eyes and sat up straight as she looked up to find Charles.

A few moments passed before he spoke.

"You feeling any better?"  
"Yes, thank you."

"Would you like anything to eat?" He then asked.  
"No, thanks," she then looked outside and pointed. "I spent so long in that place that I forgot there were this many stars." The star-speckled sky seemed to shine brighter then she remembered it too. _It's because it knows you're free_ , she joked to herself. She looked back and found him staring at her with a familiar expression on his face.

"Please stop looking at me like that."  
"Like what?" He frowned as she curled her knees up to her chin.

"Like I'm something to pity."  
"I don't think you're-" He stopped as she raised a brow, challenging him to finish his sentence. He sighed, giving up. He felt his thumb fall into a rhythmic pattern against the glass he held as he waited for one of them to say something. She then looked up.

"You don't have to keep looking after me, it's beginning to make my teeth itch."  
"You don't have to be so rude," he shot back. "We did help get you out."

"So I should be thankful?"  
"No, I'm just saying-"

"You only got me out because you needed my help."

"I helped get you out because I-" He stopped himself and looked away. She stared up at him, eyes wide as she waited for him to finish.

 _Because I missed you,_ she wanted him to say, _because I care for you._

Instead, he raised the glass to his mouth and took a mouthful. Emilia watched him and as she went to speak she realised that she'd been holding her breath. She looked down and fiddled with the pen in her hand. No one spoke. She took the lid off her pen and continued tracing over her drawings.

"Are you going to sit down?" She then asked, a softer edge to her voice than before. She sneaked a glance at him as he sat and noticed him staring at the papers scattered around her.

"Quite a lot of drawing you've done."  
"Do you like them?" She asked as he picked one up.

"Yes," he replied. "They're very realistic." He stared at the one of Hank in his beastlike form and was both surprised and impressed at how she managed to get every little detail down. His fangs were razor sharp as she had drawn him mid growl, his massive paws held high.

"The only thing _they_ would let you do was draw," she admitted. She then pushed a napkin forward. "This one's of you." The picture she had drawn was of him in the exact same spot he was in now. She had captured nearly every single strand of hair, the creases in his shirt and even the bags under his eyes.

"You knew I'd come speak to you." He then realised that every drawing that she'd done was her predictions. He began scanning them all with his tired eyes, trying to memorise them. "Thank you," he then told her. She smiled.

"Flip it over." He did what he was told and his eyes widened. It was another drawing of him except this time he was injecting himself with the serum.

"That's..."  
"What you'll be doing in a couple hours."

"I prefer the other one," he mumbled quietly and turned it back over. It went quiet again. She found herself fidgeting from the uncomfortableness. In a moment of weakness she found herself rambling.  
"I missed you, why haven't you called?" He looked up, confused.

" _You_ left remember?" His voice then softened. "I missed you too,"  
"Maybe that's why I left, so you'd miss me," she teased and then eyed the glass in his hand. "So, you still drink?"

"How'd you guess?" She gave a sheepish look.  
"No offence, but you look awful..."  
"Thanks?"

"I thought you would have been clean by now," she admitted.  
"Are you going to lecture me?" He asked, his eyes narrowed down at her. "I hope you haven't forgotten that I wasn't the only who started doing it."

Memories flooded back of Hank telling them both about the serum he'd created. She remembered how they'd both taken it to stop the voices, how calm and tranquil it felt to not have other people's thoughts crowding her mind. She stopped after the first year whilst Charles had refused to. Her jaw clenched at his words.

"I never took the amount you did," she bit back and then pointed at him. "You took it too far, look at yourself!" she said motioning with her hand at him. "You're a mess, Charles."

"And that's why you left?" He asked. She didn't bother with a response and their conversation ended. She continued to draw as Charles noticed a sketch of Maisie on the table and he remembered the note she had left years ago. "I thought that Adrienne and Julien were having another child."  
"They lost it," she replied.

Another silence. She watched through her lashes as he swirled the remnants of his drink around. He looked up at her and, like a child, she looked away, afraid to be caught. Eventually she looked back and found that he hadn't removed his eyes. She felt something swirl in her stomach and she opened her mouth.

"I want the old you back," she declared. "I miss him, I want to know him again." He rubbed his eyes and turned away.  
"Not right now, Em'." She sat up straighter at his words.

"When?"  
"What?"  
"When can I know him again? I waited five years, I've become very patient."

He met her eyes once more before looking down and away.

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint."

She turned away to stare through the window and watched the stars. Silence wasn't bad at all, she thought as her eyes began to close.

In fact, it was very good.

* * *

She woke up the next morning with an ache in her neck. She felt it click as she rolled it forward.

"Rise and shine, kid," Logan said as he shook her awake. "We've got a big day ahead of us."

She had dreamed of her drawings, Raven jumping, glass smashing and Hank in his beast like form. She grabbed her toothbrush from her bag along with a spare change of clothes and entered one of the toilets as she tried to make a new plan.

The original plan had been to lose the others, find Raven and then kill Trask. That had all changed once she found out about what would happen if Trask was killed. She placed the brush threatening to spill over with toothpaste into her mouth and brushed.

She could leave the others, find Raven and convince her to stop. That wouldn't work, she realised as she moved the toothbrush to the other side of her mouth, they wouldn't leave her out of their sight.

She spat the paste out and stared at herself in the mirror. She undid the braid she had slept in and let it fall in messy waves across her shoulders. She splashed water over her face before leaving and walked out to find Logan waiting for her.

"We're leaving," he told her. She nodded, grabbed her bag and left the plane. As she walked down the steps, she found the car they were renting. Erik and Charles were inside watching her leave. She stopped as she felt Logan following her down the steps.

Getting away from them was going to be impossible.

"You alright?" Logan asked. She hummed out a response and carried on walking down. She clambered into the car and made sure she got the window seat.

The rest of the drive was a blur as she became more and more agitated by the second. They let Logan drive and Emilia held onto the back of his chair tightly as they rounded the corner. A swarm of people crowded the streets outside the Hotel Royale.

"I guess we have to go in the back way."

They drove around slowly trying to find their way. Eventually, they turned another corner and found another entrance. As they drove in, two guards stood and blocked them from entering.

She dug her nails into hand as she felt herself panic. Erik's hand reached out and a metal railing came flying out towards the men. They crashed against the wall and the only thing that stopped them was the barrier. Erik's wrist jerked and it raised up, allowing them to pass.

The rest of the drive was smooth and Emilia hoped that the rest of the day went the same way.

They came to a halt five minutes later when the found an entrance to the hotel. She bounded out the car and walked alongside Erik who led the way.

A competition came between her and the others as she wanted to be the first one who entered the room. She walked fast making sure she was in front of everyone. She felt Charles come to her side and attempt to pass her. She raced up the steps in front of her and was once more in the front. She felt Logan close behind her and realised that he too was a threat.

Emilia was the smallest there and only reached Logan's shoulder, as they began to speed up she found herself lagging behind. A surge of energy filled her and she raced forward in front of everyone and charged into the room.

"Raven!" She shouted as she spotted her. Distracted, Raven turned to her and a smile hinted at her mouth.

"I knew you'd come," she told Emilia. Before she could reply, Emilia felt her face melt into horror as something sprung at Raven, shocking her causing her to fall onto the table.

"Raven!" Emilia shouted and ran to her friend. She tried holding her down as she spasmed across the table. Emilia then felt something cold placed into her hands.

"Do it," Raven urged. Emilia looked down and found a gun in her hands. "Em', you have to."

The doors slammed open again and the others entered.

"Raven!" Charles shouted and came to her side. Emilia stepped back as she let the siblings have their moment. She held the weapon tight in her hands as she watched Erik pull the tasers off Raven and throw them onto man who had attacked her. She let her fingers glide over it as she watched Charles comfort his sister and then turned away.

"Charles?" She heard Raven ask weakly.  
"We've come for you, Erik and I, together."

"I never thought I...I'd see you again."

She looked to the corner of the room and found a hesitant man. A big beefy moustache went above his lip and Emilia stared at him, wondering if he was Trask. He looked up at her, as if sensing her thoughts.

A look of recognition came across his face.

"You," he whispered in disbelief. Emilia looked behind her to see if there was anyone else and found that is was her he was referring to.  
"Me?" She asked instinctively.

"Emilia?"  
"How do you know my name?"

Then she remembered, she was supposed to be transferred to Trask industries.  
 _He was expecting me,_ she thought to herself.

"I'm going to keep you safe, I'm going to keep you out of their hands," she heard Charles promise.

Raven looked across and saw Emilia opposite Trask. _This is it,_ Raven thought, _this is the moment._

"Em," Raven called. Her eyes then scouted the gun and went back to her. "Emilia, do it!" Emilia raised her hand and aimed the gun. It was heavy and she had to hold with both hands.

"Emilia?" Charles asked. "This is why you really came, to kill him?" She kept her eyes on Trask who was retreating back into the corner.  
"I'm sorry, Charles." She then struggled but soon managed to rack the slide on the gun back, chambering a bullet.

"Emilia, you know what will happen," Charles warned. Emilia glanced back and felt her hands lower the gun slightly.  
"Do it, Em'," Raven spoke with a force that made Emilia ignore Charles. "He killed Sean."

Before she could make a decision, the gun lurched from her hand and into Eriks. Charles gave a thankful smile but it disappeared as he aimed the gun at Raven.

"Erik?" Raven asked.  
"Erik, what are you doing?"

"Securing our future." He replied. "Forgive me, Mystique, as long as both of you are out there we'll never be safe."

Raven, who now shielded herself behind her brother looked at him with desperate eyes.

"Use your powers, Charles, stop him," she begged.

"He can't," Erik replied.

In a split second, Raven made up her mind and charged forward towards the window. As she sprinted, Hank lunged forward and tackled Erik to ground.

But not before he pulled the trigger.

Something stirred in Emilia as she heard the bullet being released. She felt the metal unleash itself and the energy that went with it. A familiar feeling raced through her as she could suddenly feel all of the metal in the room.

Glass shattered as Raven launched through the window. Both her and Charles were helpless as the bullet glided past them and curved out of sight. Screams then came from outside as and fear crept up her as she didn't if Raven had survived the jump.

She spun back around to find Erik punching Hank and Charles running forward to hold him down. Erik's fist then collided with Charles and he was sent flying back. She stayed back, knowing that after Raven she would be on Erik's list to kill.

She watched as Erik raised his arm and a gun, hidden in the corner of the room, came to his palm. Then he was gone.

Emilia went to Charles' side and helped him off the ground.

"Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine," he said, holding his hand to where he'd been hit. His eyes then darted around the room. "Where's Erik?"

"He went after her."

She heard a low growl from behind her and turned to see Hank's facial features becoming more sharper, furrier and a deep shade of blue.

"Where am I?" She heard Logan ask.  
"Huh?"  
"How the hell did I get here?"

Not wanting to deal with Logan's confused state, Emilia turned to Charles.

"I'm going after them." He nodded and as she turned to leave he grabbed hold of her quickly.

"Wait," she turned back at his touch. "Be careful, I almost lost you once." She then frowned at him and yanked herself away.

"I'm not yours to lose, remember?"

She moved swiftly to the window and leaned out to see the sight below. Raven was being dragged across the concrete by the bullet that was in her leg.

Emilia then focused on a group of people below the window that were watching the events unfold. Behind them was the perfect spot to stay low so Erik wouldn't expect her. She closed her eyes and tried to recall how Adrienne had once taught her to teleport.

 _That was years ago,_ she yelled at herself mentally, _you'll never do it._

Then, as she pictured where she wanted to go in her mind, she felt a wild rush up her back and felt the floor change underneath her feet. Opening her eyes, she stared into the backs of people's heads. She began to push her way through the crowd as she heard a roar from above.

A flash of blue soared over them and she barged her way to the front knowing who it was.

Hank and Erik were now fighting, rolling atop of each other as Raven laid to the side. Emilia dashed forward to her friend.

"Run," she told her. "You need to leave."  
"Come with me," Raven replied and reached out to her. Emilia looked back at the pair fighting and then back up to where she had just come from.

"I can't, not yet." Raven nodded in understanding. Raven was then gone and Emilia turned to find Hank and Erik in the fountain.

Hank straddled Erik and was holding him down under the water, not allowing him to breathe. Then, a startled cry came from behind and she felt the ground beneath her shake. Looking around she realised that Erik was pulling every piece of metal he could find to help him.

"Hank!" She warned. She was too late as the poles of metal behind him bent forward, wrapping itself around Hank and dragged him back mid-air.

Erik emerged from the water and looked around, searching for Raven.

"You forgot about me," Emilia called out as he realised she gone.  
"Emilia," Erik replied, his voice sour. "How nice for you to join us."

She raised her hand out and the poles that were behind him leapt out and wrapped themselves around his arms. He then smirked and turned back to Emilia.

"Using my own mutation against me? You never were the smart one." His wrist then flicked to the side and she felt something come her way.

Something sharp hit her back and she felt herself tumble into the fountain they were in. She landed on her knees, scraping them as Erik wielded the metal to let himself go.

"Are you really trying to stop me by yourself, Emilia?"  
"I don't have to stop you," she replied as they stood face to face. "I just have to slow you down."

He launched forward and she felt herself being submerged into the water. He was on top of her and held her down as she struggled to fight him.

 _'The metal man,'_ she remembered what an old fortune teller had told her. She couldn't remember the rest of the prediction as she felt a pain in her chest. Her fingers clawed at Erik's arms, desperate to get back up. He refused to budge and in a moment of panic she opened her mouth. In flooded water and she began to splutter, causing more to go in. Her chest now felt like it was being torn apart. She began squeezing and hitting Erik's arm weakly, but no longer to attack but to beg for help.

Then it went.

The burning sensation left her and was replaced with an air of calm and tranquility. Her hands gave up hitting Erik and they began to float by her side as she began to slowly sink to the bottom.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Sorry for the lack of updates, my Grandmother passed away and last Monday was her funeral. I've been all over the place really, stress from college and exams have literally taken over my life. I'm struggling at the moment for ideas and I'm going through a mild writer's block so if you could bear with me that'd be great. Another thing is that I'm** **getting annoyed with this site quite a lot. I wrote 500 words and the site didn't save. Sometimes I just can't write for like a week because I get so frustrated over it.**

 **Reviews:**

 **anonymouscsifan:** I included Quicksilver, just for you ;). I prefer Evan Peters Quicksilver over Aaron Taylor Johnsons, thought his portrayal suited the character more. But then again, it's the Avengers it's a different world (or whatever). Thanks for your review, I'm glad you're enjoying!x  
 **sarahmichellegellarfan1:** Thank you, thanks for reading this and Reign :)  
 **mun3litKnight:** Thank you, you're very kind! She's starting to get better but it'll take a while. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)  
 **badkitty98:** Thank you! I hope you liked this chapter, I'm really tired right now so sorry for any mistakes.

Shoutout to **From Ritz to Rubble** as well, thanks for reading all the stories! You're awesome!

Thank you to everyone who has faved and followed, it means alot!

 **Reviews would be really helpful during this time, thank you!x**


	7. A Dream of Jean

**Chapter 7 - A Dream of Jean**

 **'Hope never abandons you, you abandon it.'**

George Weinberg

* * *

As soon as her arms slacked and she stopped fighting back, Erik's grip loosened.

His eyes widened when he realised she wasn't moving. Guilt lay like a rock in his heart as he moved off of her still body and eyed the crowd around him. People screamed hysterically all around and he fought the urge to silence them. He sighted a small gap in-between where the French police were seated in their cars and a small monument. He waded his way through the water as he found his chance to escape.

Five French police made their way to him, guns aimed high. He smirked.

 _You homo sapiens and your guns,_ he thought slyly.

His hand shot out and their weapons soared through the air away from them. As the same hand was just about to strike again, he heard a crash of water come from behind. A hard force caused him to lose his breath as he was tackled back down to the water. He saw Emilia above him and felt her rake her long nails against his face.

"You've ruined it," she screeched at him as his face was torn. "You always ruin everything!"

His hands lunged hard at her chest as he threw her backwards. Her body slammed against the marble, spluttering and breathless. He clenched his fists and reached out for one of the metal poles that held Hank to strike her.

 _I'm securing our future,_ he believed when he angled the metal to hit her right between her ribs.

"I'm sorry, old friend."

He let the metal soar and closed his eyes as he waited for the sound of it to finish her.

A noise came from Emilia that was a mix between a gasp and a cry. He heard the marble crack and his breath caught in his mouth. Knowing that the job was done, he turned away. Erik felt the floor beneath his feet shudder as Hank let out an ear-piercing roar. _Don't look back,_ he told himself as he marched through the screaming crowds, _don't look back._

Within the next second Erik was gone and Hank was left hanging from the metal.

A low mournful howl left him as his friend did not move. He struggled against the metal that held him as he fought to get to her side. Then, he noticed that her arm was trembling as it moved across the metal. Emilia then unravelled herself and Hank saw that the metal had just narrowly missed her side, planting itself in the fountain.

"I'm alright," she insisted as she sat herself up. Before she could say anything else, a series of flashes burnt their eyes. She looked up to find a line of photographers taking shots of their faces. Emilia shielded herself with her arm and turned the other direction to see more cameras. A French TV correspondent was speaking directly to the camera and pointing at Hank and her in the fountain.

 _Stop it,_ she wanted to cry as she eyed Hank, _can't you see that he's hurt?_ He had no way to protect himself from the cameras as now more of them began to record him. The metal had dug into his wrists the more he tried to fight against it, causing them to become raw. She saw another correspondent, this time American.

"We are live at the Paris Peace Summit which is currently under attack by unidentified assailants," her nasally voice caught Emilia's ears as she struggled to lift herself up. "If we look closely we can find two possible suspects behind us." She met the woman's eyes as she pointed the camera crew to their direction.

She span around to Hank and noticed him struggling to break free from the metal restraints. She lowered her hand so that it was out of view of the cameras and moved her wrist sharply to the right, a low creak resounded rom the metal. A thunderous growl filled the air as Hank dropped, a wave of water crashed over her as he landed into the pool. She watched as he then leapt away on all fours and bounded over cars. Screams filled the air as the members of public saw the sight.

Shaking, she managed to get out of the fountain. She was suddenly thankful that she had changed out of the thin white dress from yesterday into a blue one as she felt the material stick to her skin. She wrapped her arms around herself as she began to stumble the way Hank had disappeared.

She felt something being wrapped around her shoulders along with someone's hands on her back and began to clench her fist to throw a punch. When she spun around she found French paramedics holding her. She loosened her grip as they directed her out of the crowds.

The man on her right began to speak to her in French and she could only blink when he waited for a response. There was another man on her left who then leaned in close so she could hear him.

"He's asking if you'd like to be taken to a Hospital?" His accent was thick and Emilia could only just make it out.  
"No, no thank you." The man frowned and opened his mouth to speak again when an ambush of people stepped in their path.

"Excuse me," the woman with the nasally voice from earlier said. "I was wondering if I could do a quick interview about what just happened."

"No," the man spoke for her. "No interviews, she needs looking over."  
"Right," the woman replied and then turned back to Emilia. "What exactly happened, did you know that man?"

"I... I..." Emilia struggled to speak. Another reporter pushed past.

"What gave you the courage to step out there with those... things?"  
"Yes," the female reporters voice went over the other ones. "What was that thing?"

More and more people began to crowd her and Emilia couldn't concentrate as a sea of faces surrounded her. Her chest began to burn as she struggled to breathe. She felt the towel wrapped around her fall to the floor as she tried to find an escape route.

She burst through the wall of people and began to frantically run through the crowds. A series of yells followed her as she sprinted her way against the cobbled floor. She followed the rows of ruined and crashed cars Hank had left in his wake as she forgot the way to where they had parked. Her shoes squelched and rubbed against her feet as she made her way into a small alleyway.

She collapsed against a brick wall and tore the ruined shoes off her feet. She chucked them to the side and walked down the alley barefooted. There were a number of doors that held small quaint cafes and ivory covered boutique walls. She stumbled through the area and shuddered once she felt the dirt against her feet.

"Pardon, Madame!" Someone called after her. She looked back to where she had just been and found a man. He was huge and had muscles that threatened to break out of the shirt he wore. He swiftly made his way to her and she began to step back as his arm reached out. He continued to speak in French as his hand seized her arm. She tried yanking herself away and found that she couldn't escape his clutch.

"I'll scream," she threatened. "Let me go or I'll scream." He began yanking her back against her will to where she had just been. As she opened her dry mouth to shout, a rough voice came from behind.

"Hey, bub," she turned around and saw Logan with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. "Is there a problem here?"

"Logan," she called, relief flooding through her. She was dragged back once more and Logan's jaw clenched. His cigar was discarded onto the floor and he launched across the street. She felt herself being ripped away from the stranger then hidden behind her friend.

"My friend said no, now don't make me make you leave."

She blinked once and in that split second she missed the man swing his burly fist to Logan's face. Logan's own fist leashed out and collided with the man's jaw. The man fell back yelling and Logan grinned as he turned to Emilia.

"I think you broke my jaw," the man called out in strangled English.

"Yet you still talk," Logan muttered under his breath. "Let's go," he told Emilia but didn't recognise the look on her face.

"Logan!" She warned and he turned back to receive the man's fist in his face for a second time. Emilia watched as Logan swayed momentarily and stumbled forward. She smiled knowing that it would take more than that to take him down.

Logan then crumpled to the ground.

 _Shit,_ she thought as he didn't move. She looked up and took in the stranger's muscles, it was obvious just from sight that he outmatched Logan. The sign above the empty cafe swung as a breeze swept by. She stumbled backwards underneath it as the man came closer. She peeked up at it and noticed that it was hanging by metal chains.

Her arm raised when the man was directly underneath it. With a sweep of her wrist she heard the chains snap and watched it crash down onto his head. He fell to the floor, silent. Stunned at the fact she had just managed to take a beef of a man down, Emilia was suddenly afraid that she might have killed him. She hurried to Logan and began to shake him. He groaned loudly and his eye opened.

"Did I win?" He asked groggily as he searched for the body.  
"Not exactly," Emilia replied as she leaned over him. She watched him rub his face as he stayed on the ground.

"It's funny," she commented as she noticed the worry lines return. "For a few seconds you looked peaceful." He winced as he cradled his head.

"Except, I was knocked out in a dirty alley."  
"I choose to ignore that part of it."

"You alright?" She nodded and then looked at the stranger on the floor.

"Is he dead?" She asked. Logan struggled to pull himself of the floor as he searched for the man. He watched as he lay eerily still on the floor. He noticed Emilia wringing her hands, full of nerves and he hoped that she hadn't killed him.

The stranger's chest moved and a low groan came from him.

"Let's go," Logan grabbed her hand and dragged her away.

Making sure that he didn't come into contact with her skin, he held on tight to her arm and navigated them through the foreign streets. He almost lost her twice in the crowds and contemplated carrying her before he spotted the car they had come here in.

"Do you want to tell them what happened?" Logan asked as he remembered the fear that had been on her face when the stranger had laid there unconscious. Looking down at her, he almost snorted when he realised that she was smaller than Rogue had been as a teenager. His face then fell, remembering the teenage girl who had hidden in the back of his truck.

Emilia shook her head in response. Charles was first to meet them as they came closer.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Logan opened his mouth and then shut it as he realised it was directed at the woman beside him. Emilia, soaking wet and beginning to ache, smiled calmly.

"I'm fine," her eyes searched behind Charles. "Where's Hank?" Peering into the car, they saw Hank injecting himself with his own serum he had brought. Slowly, his features turned from blue to the human version of himself.

"Is Raven not here?" Emilia heard herself asking. She had thought that her friend would have joined them after being harmed. She and Logan watched as Charles was unable to muster a response and turned away from them.

Logan sighed, already knowing that Raven was long gone.

-o-

Hours later, Bolivar Trask stood in the Presidents Oval Office. After the incident in Paris he had been whisked away and placed on the first flight back to America. As soon as the plane touched Washington soil he had been greeted by secret service men who then went on to escort him to where he was now.

His fingers pushed the thick rimmed glasses he wore higher up his nose as he stood in-between a crowd of people watching the T.V in front of them. He shifted side to side, now feeling the tiredness of the plane journey as the reporter's voice droned on, retelling the same story for the hundredth time that day.

"Yesterday, the Paris Peace Summit was rocked by the appearance of unidentified assailants, the likes of which the world has never seen. Mass hysteria has gripped the nation as people ask 'Where did they come from? Will they be back?' And most importantly, 'Are they friend or foe?'" The screen changed to a male news anchor who bore a moustache that resembled Trask's own. "That was London correspondent Toby Elliot reporting from the Paris Peace Summit yesterday."

Whilst everyone else's eyes stayed glued on the screen, he found his own wandering around the room. The only man that did not stand was the President himself, even his three dogs had their ears perked up at the T.V.

"Fuck me," the President swore under his breath. He threw himself out of his seat and stalked across the room, causing everyone to jump back into their work. "What the hell are we dealing with here?" He then pointed to a young man opposite him. "Off the record."

The man nodded and leaned down into a drawer to switch a recording device off. Another man, older with streaks of grey hair, came forward and dropped files on to the President's desk.

'WARNING,' it read and held two mugshots of the man that had just been sprawled across their screen.

"Two days ago, this man, Erik Lehnsherr, escaped from a maximum security prison inside the Pentagon." Nixon glanced at the man before turning his attention to the three dogs behind his desk, he held out doggy treats for them and only looked back when he felt them lick the remnants from his fingers. Brushing the crumbs off his skin, he focused on the four screens in front of him that showed the footage that had been broadcasted around the world. "We believe that this woman is a former associate of Lehnsherr's. They were together in Cuba, the day of the crisis in '62. He was also implicated in Kennedy's assassination."

The man dropped a navy folder on top of the files but Nixon took no notice. Wriggling his fingers at the screen, he frowned at the image of a blonde woman tackling Lehnsherr to the ground.

"What about that girl?" He asked as another video of her brawling with Lehnsherr was shown.

"We don't know, but witnesses say that she was a civilian that got caught up. Innocent," he then concluded.

Trask bit the side of his mouth to stop himself from speaking. _Not innocent,_ he silently remarked, _and not a civilian._ He felt his lips twitch as his patience run thin. Nixon wriggled his fingers again at the beast like creature that now covered the screen.

"What about that thing?"

"We don't know what that thing is, sir," a man clad in uniform replied. "Actually, we really don't know what any of them are."

"Yes. Yes, we do," Trask stepped forward no longer willing to go unheard. "They're mutants." He made his way through the room and pointed at the image of Erik. "He has the power to control metal. Last I checked, that's what most of your weapons were made of," he observed, looking the General dead in the eye. He then pointed at the blue scaled woman, who had just landed on the concrete from her jump. "And she can transform into anyone. A general, a secret serviceman. Even you, Mr. President." Nixon straightened, a prick of fear worming its way through him. "She could walk into this office and order a nuclear strike if she was in the mood," Trask continued. The same video of the blonde woman replayed and he tapped the screen she was shown on.

"Oh, and the blonde one that you assume is an 'innocent' bystander is also one of them. In fact," Trask began as he pulled his own files out of a folder and placed them on Nixon's desk. 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN?' The headline asked and presented the woman in black and white mugshots underneath, identical to Erik's. "If your men had done their research properly, they would have found that she escaped a mental institution days ago. She was supposed to be taken to my facility for further testing." He noticed the looks that were being sent by the members of Nixon's men and he knew he had bested them. Feeling slightly triumphant, he allowed himself to smirk for a second as his fingers circled the picture. "That woman can mimic or absorb the ability of any other mutant. Her powers could be unlimited. And that's only three of them."

He stood there for a few seconds, waiting for Nixon to respond. He noticed the Presidents eyes taking in the words printed underneath the woman's pictures. 'APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION,' it read and Trask knew the man had made up his mind. Pushing the papers away he turned to his men.

"Do we have any countermeasures?" Any defence?" He demanded.

"I was waiting for you to ask me that question," Trask replied, interrupting any of the others who went to speak. He placed the folder he had been holding and dropped it in front of the President.

"That's an experimental program, sir. Strictly off the books," voiced the man who had brought him information about Erik. Ignoring him, Nixon reached out for the folder and skimmed through it. As he went through page after page of Sentinel designs Trask had penned himself, Nixon's brows furrowed. Trask waited for him as two of the dogs gave loud, sharp barks at him.

"You're telling me these mutants are out in the world and our best defence are these giant metal robots?"

"Many of the mutants look like us," Trask defended at the sound of his appalled voice. "My Sentinels can tell the difference. I have eight prototypes ready to go. They're built out of a space-age polymer, not an ounce of metal on them."

Nixon eyed the people surrounding them searching for some kind of opinion. He got none and rolled his fingers, knowing he would have to make his own decision. He pointed once more at the screens, a shiver run down his back as he met the sight of the blue scaled mutant.

"I want to make a demonstration," he informed Trask. "I want the world to know that we can protect them. What do you need to get these things operational?"

"I already gave that number to Congress." He eyed a few men in the room who had been there on that day. "Unfortunately, they elected to shut me down. It's going to cost a bit more to turn them on.

"Whatever you need," Nixon replied with ease.

"Oh, and one more thing." Trask turned to fully face the screens again and saw the two women who had both held him at gun point. "If we do manage to capture them, I would like the girls." He felt a few eyes linger on him for his request as he realised how it must have sound. "For research purposes, of course."

"I don't care who you screw, as long as it's not me," Nixon assured.

-o-

"I don't have a spare change of clothes," Emilia admitted once they had gotten on the plane.

 _Logan_ wanted to tell her to wear the ones she wore yesterday but knew that she had smudged ink all over the white dress whilst drawing. He almost pitied her as she was soaked to the bone due to her and Erik's encounter. A pool had formed around her and beads of water ran down her face.

"I have a spare shirt," Charles replied and floral material was thrust into her arms.

He was surprised when she didn't argue and had to hold in a laugh when he saw her wearing it. She padded back to the others wearing Charles' psychedelic shirt which hung past her bare thighs. Logan wasn't sure if he was smirking because it nearly reached her knees or because of its bright colours. His smile soon faded when he noticed thin scars wrapped around her legs from her treatment in that mental institution.

He expected her to sit next to him like she had last time, however, she decided to sit opposite Charles. Knowing that he was free to smoke with her away from him, Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"How are you feeling?" Charles asked once she sat down.  
"Better," she replied. "I haven't had any headaches."

"Maybe you'll sleep better tonight."  
"Maybe," she smiled.

They fell into silence and Logan thought it odd. A puff of smoke swirled in front of him as he examined the pair. Emilia fiddled with the sleeves of the shirt which fell past her fingers, Charles reached forward and helped roll them back. As his fingers brushed past her wrist, Logan noticed Emilia bite her lip and her eyes fall on his lips at their close proximity. More smoke clouded the air around him as he snorted at how they were acting like teenagers.

"Read any good books lately?" Emilia asked.  
"Not really, I was hoping that you'd have some to recommend."

"I've fallen out of reading, I haven't finished a book in years."  
"Why?" She shrugged.

"I just lost interest, I guess."  
"I remember when you used to be able to read a whole book in just one day."

"I used to pick up books the way you now pick up syringes," she joked.

"Sounds like you had a serious reading problem," Logan heard himself chimed in. He then realised his words and turned to Charles. "Sorry." Charles bit his lip and nodded.

"It's alright." Emilia swallowed uncomfortable after what she had said and eyed him nervously.  
"I'm sorry, too," she added. "I shouldn't have said that." He shook his head and changed the subject.

"Why did you try to kill Trask?" She crossed her arms at the mention at what had happened earlier.

"Raven said he killed Sean, that I was going to be next." She shrugged again and bowed her head. "I thought I owed her. I thought it was justice."

"You shouldn't confuse justice with revenge," he replied as he leaned forward. "There's been enough mutant blood spilt already without you risking your life." Her head snapped back up at his words. Logan pressed his lips together, knowing that an argument was brewing.

"Well, maybe there wouldn't so much mutant blood if we had made our move," she quarrelled. A smile hinted at Charles' features at her outburst.

"Those are Erik's words not yours," Charles replied calmly. "And besides, you'd be giving Trask exactly what he wants, a reason for humanity to fear, to hate us."

"You think they need a reason? Do you honestly think they won't fear us?" She asked. "You and I, we can hide. But what about those who can't hide? They've become lab rats for Trask." Leaning forward even more, he put his hand over hers.

"I will never let that happen to you," he promised. Logan watched as she instantly withdrew her hand back from beneath Charles. He took a sharp intake of smoke as he saw Charles' wide eyes at Emilia's rejection. She absently traced the scars on her wrists.

"But you did and you will," she whispered.

"I made you a promise a long time ago that I would keep you safe, that I would protect you," Charles responded. "If I had done my job perhaps none of this would be happening to us," his eyes stayed on Emilia's and Logan knew he was going to push for an answer. "Perhaps you wouldn't have left home…"

Logan tapped the end of the cigar against the ash tray in front of him. He looked up and waited for her to reply. She stared at Charles, Logan assumed that she didn't know what to say. She then looked away out of the window and sighed.

"We weren't happy," she spoke quietly. "I had to leave, it wasn't fair on either of us." Before he could respond, Emilia coughed and swiftly changed the conversation.

"Anyway, it isn't me you should be lecturing. Raven is going to start that war if we like it or not."

Realising the tension that filled the air, Charles did not reply. His went to the oversized shirt of his that she wore.

"We'll make sure to get you clean clothes after we land." She shook her head.  
"You don't have to do that. I don't have any money on me anyway."

"I'll buy them for you," was his immediate response and she frowned at him.  
"Charles, I don't want to be a charity case."  
"You are not charity." She couldn't manage to thank him as she felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She looked down at her fingers and wrung them, trying to hide her scarlet cheeks.

"Do you think you'd be able to take me to Julien and Adrienne's?" She asked. He tilted his head at her.  
"Why?"

"I need somewhere to stay," she answered, rubbing his eyes.  
"You can stay with us."

 _What are you doing?_ Logan wanted to ask Charles as he felt his own eyes narrow down at them.

"Charles-" He cut her off before she could finish.  
"You will stay with us as long as you need too, I won't hear any more of it." She smiled and Logan blew out another mouthful of smoke.

"Thank you," she tried to say but was interrupted midway by a yawn.  
"Maybe you should try get some rest." Emilia nodded in agreement and fell back against the chair. Within the hour she was out cold. As her chest slowly rose, Logan noticed that her arm had stayed outstretched on the table. Her hand had become entwined with Charles'. He noticed Logan staring.

"She's coming home," he murmured and Logan felt himself frown at the faint smile on Charles' face.

"What are you trying to do?" Logan demanded. Charles blinked, dubious.  
"I'm trying to save her," he then replied, as if it was obvious. Logan stubbed out the rest of his cigar.

"Men who have tried to do that to women, in my experience, doesn't end well." Maybe it was because he was exhausted or maybe because he felt lonely at the sight of their hands, he thought of a red head who he hadn't seen in years. "You're going to drive her away," he finished.

He shuffled into his jacket and closed his eyes. He then felt himself being lulled into a soft sleep as red hair clouded his thoughts.

-o-

In his dreams everyone's faces were crystal clear.

Ororo stood across from him, her hair almost as light as the moon. Next to her Scott would stand, his glasses a piercing scarlet that always nerved Logan. Then Rogue would burst out sprinting from behind them, her youthful grin made his chest ache and she fell into his arms. He ruffled her hair and chuckled as she batted his hands away.

They all clouded when she entered.

"Hey, Logan," a smooth voice called out. It was a voice that he could pick out in a sea of people even if he hadn't heard it in over fifteen years. He could no longer remember what shade Ororo's hair was, nor could he recall what made him want to punch Scott. Hell, he even forgot Rogue's actual name.

"Hey, Jean."

He watched as she made her way down the stairs, a strand of crimson hair over her eye and he felt the urge to sweep it back behind her ear. She jumped the last few steps and grinned as she sauntered over to him.

Every time this happened he prayed that she'd go to him.

And every time she'd brush his shoulder as she went into Scott's arms.

He always caught himself staring and when he did he'd look away. He never realised that he was staring, perhaps he was too caught up in everything about her to even notice. Maybe he stared because of the way she always seemed to be smiling. Maybe it was the way that her hair never seemed to fade from the vibrant blood red. Maybe it was that she cared. Or maybe because she had been so kind.

He had not been so used to kindness, the act of someone's touch being soft and reassuring had been completely foreign to him. He was a weapon, crafted by Stryker. He was meant for pain. But when she touched him, all he had felt was comfort and maybe, _maybe_ , even safety.

He took a sharp intake of breath as he realised what would come next. He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was holding her body. Everything around them was now in ruin, Alcatraz was on the verge of destruction but all he could focus on was the smell of her hair and the warmth of her body.

"You would die for them?" A voice that was not her own seethed, dripping with disgust. He had trembled, praying that it would all end soon.  
"No, not for them," he replied, his voice breaking. "For you."

There was a rare moment of complete balance when Jean returned for one split second.

"Save me," he heard her beg and then felt his claws rip through his skin.  
"I love you."

Her screams haunted him as he plunged the metal through her body. This was the moment when he normally woke up. He did not wake, not this time. Without warning a fire soared through him, burning his skin. When he opened his eyes the light around him brought pain. He laid on a medical bed, his wrists and ankles bound.

Then she came to mind. _Emilia?_ He wanted to ask but words failed him. Then he's confused, why was he thinking of her?

Then there's anger, fury at the thought of her in his dream. Cold venom flooded his veins as he was unable to stop thinking about her white-gold hair, that same hair then became vividly stained, dripping in dark crimson.

"Stop it," he can hear her pleading. "Please, don't let him make you do this." Her words meant nothing as he seized her throat to silence her. He pressed harder as she continued to beg.

Then he woke.

He was covered in a layer of sweat and there was a pain in his chest as he struggled to breathe. When he caught his breath he realised the pain was something else entirely. He looked up and found Hank staring at him from across the plane. His framed glasses cast a shadow on his face and Logan realised how dark it had become.

"Are you alright?" Hank asked.

"I'm fine," his head then snapped to the cockpit which he noticed was empty. "Aren't you supposed to be flying the plane?"  
"I put it on autopilot for a while," Hank continued to frown at Logan's state. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He felt his hands shake as he reached for his lighter. For reassurance or for a smoke, he didn't know. The metal was cool against his skin. He looked up and saw that Hank was expecting an answer.

"I'm fine, just a nightmare," he admitted.  
"Really? What about?"

Logan's eyes flickered across the room and he found Emilia and Charles sleeping. Ignoring the fact that he might have killed Emilia in his dream, he thought of Jean. How could he explain Jean to him? She was kind, smart and powerful, so powerful that she had ripped her fiancé to nothing.

And Logan had loved her.

"Just someone that I knew a long time ago. She was, or is going to be, one of the Professors greatest students and she…" and she killed him. She had killed the Professor, even though they had brought him back years later she had still killed him. His hand clenched around the metal too afraid to speak any more. Hank gave a silent nod of understanding and dropped the subject.

"We're stopping in two hours; it shouldn't be too long."

Logan nodded and squeezed his hand tight, the ghost of a certain blondes neck still lingered on his skin.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this has taken so long but I originally wrote this as a huge chapter and I found that it was over 11,000+ words so I've decided to split it and re edit the first 5,000 words and then upload the next chapter later this week. I have exams in the next few weeks so I apologise if there's a lack of activity then! Thank you to everyone for all of their support and kind words, it means a lot! It's 1 am and if there are any editing mistakes I am sorry, just thought you guys shouldn't be made to wait anytime longer!**

I'm starting to get really pumped for Apocalypse, I've got a few ideas in store for it. Starting to go off Mystique's make-up though, it looked so realistic in the first trilogy and First Class and now it just looks... fake? Sounds stupid because it's obvs make up and I know Jennifer Lawrence reacted to it badly but they could have at least tried. Beast's make-up looks amazing, the best it's ever been in my opinion. I really hope they don't kill Erik's child off although I know they will, LET THE MAN BE HAPPY FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

My one complaint is the 80's fashion, I hate it and I know I'll hate writing it. The worst decade in fashion in my opinion, although Sophie Turner and Lana Condors outfits look really cool. I love the 70's and I feel like the whole bohemian/hippy style would have Emilia written all over it, flower power all the way my sweet child (idk what I'm talking about anymore I'm very tired).

 **Reviews:**

 **Civic1980:** _Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry for the wait!_  
 **mun3litKnight:** _Ugh I know Erik needs to chill_  
 **anonymouscsifan:** _Haha I love Quicksilver, there's going to be a tiny bit more of him in the next couple of chapters ;) Thank you for your support, it means so much! *hug* I'm sorry about your mother, I hope you're alright!_  
 **badkitty98:** _Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)_  
 **debatable-cerealkiller:** _Thank you so much for reading the Star Wars fic as well! I'm so glad you're enjoying and hope you enjoy this chapter!_  
 **DarkMistofNight:** _Thank you! I'm glad that you think that about the characters, I normally worry if they seem too out of character. I'm a complete imbecile as well when it comes to technology, no worries! Thank you, I'm sorry about your Grandmother I hope you and your family are alright._

Thank you to everyone who has faved and followed, it means alot!

 **Reviews are adored and encourage me to write, please leave one!**


	8. Pride and Prejudice and Mutants

**Chapter 8 - Pride and Prejudice and Mutants**

 **'Meet the world with hope in your heart.'**

Heather Gudenkauf, These Things Hidden

* * *

Morning soon came and the first thing they decided to do was get Emilia clothes. Logan had to bite his tongue to refrain himself from making comments as Emilia emerged from the shop. Resembling the classic flower child of the 70's that he had forgot existed, she and Charles left the store side by side. Logan silently took in Charles' denim bell bottoms and floral shirt with Emilia's flowing bell sleeve dress and brown suede jacket. He prayed that she did not have a flower crown in the bag she carried.

"You know Sonny and Cher broke up right?" He had teased as they resembled the singing duo. Emilia's eyes widened.  
"They broke up?" She asked astonished. Logan then stalled, remembering that their break up wouldn't happen for another two years. He left her whilst mumbling about confusing time lines. They called a cab and Logan sat in front whilst the others crowded the back. Occasionally he conversed with the others and also the driver, but for most of the drive he stayed quiet and hoped that no one would notice his closed eyes behind his shades. A girl stood at the end of a street they passed and Logan stared as her scarlet red hair tangled itself in the wind. He clenched his jaw looked away, knowing exactly who she reminded him of.

When they arrived at the mansion Logan paid the driver with the money he had stolen days ago. He then walked side by side with Emilia and looked down to find her only reaching his shoulders. The doors to the mansion opened with a high pitched creak and Logan made sure he stayed at the back. They had only walked three steps in when Charles gave a loud cry and crashed to the ground. Hank was immediately at his side, helping him up while Logan hunched down beside them in case he was needed.

"What happened?" Logan asked. "Can he walk?"  
"He needs his treatment," Hank explained as he pulled Charles up to his feet.

"Hank, I can hear them." Charles held on tightly as he was shuffled across the room.  
"I know," Hank replied. "It's okay."

"Can you make it stop?" Charles begged.  
"I'll get them." Hank dashed up the stairs to get the serum and the three of them were left behind.

"Hey, hey," Logan put his hand on Charles' shoulder. "Pull yourself together. It's not over yet." Charles' hand reached up to his temple and Logan noticed his eyes widening.  
"You don't believe that." Logan blinked.

"How do you know?"  
"As these go…" Charles tapped his legs and his hand returned to head. "…this comes back." Another surge of voices filled his mind and they watched as he fell against the wall. "They all come back." Logan took a couple of steps back, trying to think of what to say. He noticed Emilia shifting her weight from foot to foot, uncomfortable and out of place. She couldn't even look at him.

"Look," Logan began, trying to find the right words. "I'm still here, Emilia's here... and Raven's still out there. We need your help, Charles. Not like this." His eyes glanced across at Emilia and silently apologised for what he was about to say. "We can't wait around to see if Emilia's powers will be strong enough, we don't have time. I need you. We can't find Raven. Not without your powers." Charles had begun rolling his sleeves up when Logan saw white hair leave the corner of his eye. He craned his head and found Emilia turning her back on them as she made her way to the stairs. Deciding that she wasn't important at the moment, he focused on Hank who was charging down the staircase.

"I added a little extra because you missed a dose." Charles grabbed the serum off Hank and stretched his arm to find a vein. Logan noticed the Professors hand shaking and his eyes flickering around the room. _He's hesitating,_ he realised as Charles' eyes zoned in on something behind Logan. He looked back and found Emilia half way up the stairs. Sensing everyone's eyes on her, she spun back and took in the sight of Charles with his serum. Her nose crinkled and she squinted her eyes shut—hard—for a moment. She turned away once more. Logan rounded back to Charles and found his eyes following her up the staircase.

"I'm guessing you hate it when she looks at you like that?" Logan asked when she disappeared, Charles reluctantly nodded. "Then maybe you shouldn't give her a reason too," Logan replied. "Charles..." he then warned as the needle was placed closer against his vein. Charles looked up and met Logan's eyes, disappointment flooding them. His eyes swept over Hank's face and found troubled thoughts clouding his mind, was that shame he could feel coming from Hank? He tensed as he held the metal tighter and tried to will himself to inject it. However, more and more thoughts that weren't his own crowded his mind and for once he found himself not being able to ignore them.

He dropped the needle to floor. Rubbing his hands over his face, he focused on calming his breathing down. When he was ready, he looked up at Hank.  
"Hank, do me a favour?" He asked. "Would you help me to my study, please? Hank stood still for a second, registering that this was actually happening. He then leaned forward and wrapped Charles' arm around his shoulder. Hank moved them across the mansion together and Logan stayed put, watching them leave. He felt his legs take him the opposite way to the others and he bounded the stairs to follow Emilia.

-o-

It felt natural going into his room, almost as if she hadn't been gone for four years and instead only hours. The same mahogany furniture that travelled throughout the Mansion was found in there. It was also a mess - covers kicked to the bottom of the bed, clothes draped over the backs of chairs and bottles, some empty and some half-full, had not yet been cleared away. Books were everywhere, on the side table, the bed, stacked on the floor, you named it and it was there.

They were all her books. The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice and The Lord of the Rings were a few scattered around the room. She found another book discarded in the corner and she bent down to get a closer look. The frayed spine fell apart in her hand as she picked it up, a bottle laid behind it surrounded in broken glass. Searching through the mess, she found a picture frame buried underneath.

The glass was shattered and threatened to break into hundreds of tiny pieces any second. Emilia pulled herself up off the floor and opened the back to get to the picture. It was a photograph of the three of them, Emilia, Charles and Raven. She surprised at how joyful and carefree they had been when it had only been taken weeks before Charles' graduation back in Oxford. His arms were wrapped around their waists and she saw a faint blush on Raven's cheeks. The dress Emilia had worn in the picture showed her legs, unscarred and years away from being bruised. One part of Emilia yearned to go back to when they had all been together and another part of her wanted to rip the picture into hundreds and hundreds of pieces then watch them flutter lifelessly to the ground..

She heard footsteps making their way to the room and she dropped the frame. Quickly grabbing one of the books, she pretended to be mildly interested in it and then turned to find Logan at the door.

"You may want to see this," was all he said. She followed him out and was thankful that he didn't ask why she was in Charles' bedroom. Coming down the last few remaining steps with a jump, she turned to find a wheelchair she'd thought she'd never see again. Both her and Logan stopped in their tracks, surprised that Charles would go this far.

"Are you sure about this?" She heard Hank ask him.  
"Absolutely not," he replied.

-o-

Bolivar Trask had always been fascinated with things that were different, whether that was a molecule out of place or the arrival of the mutated human species. But this was something completely different. He had been up close and personal with scales before, but never like this. Pushing a new slide that held the sample of the blue scaled mutant under the microscope, he watched it transform underneath the screen.

"This creature is extraordinary. Her genes could hold the key to mutation itself." Trask then sniffed as he switched the slide. "I need more," he declared. William Stryker stood against the opposite table, arms crossed as he watched him.

"That's all they were able to scrape off the pavement in Paris."  
"More than blood. I need brain tissue... spinal fluid, bone marrow." His head then popped up. "Imagine... Sentinels that could transform, adapt to any target. If I could just get my hands on her." His eyes glanced at the security camera photographs of the mutant, they then came to rest on the blonde.

"Did you find anything of that one?" He asked. Stryker shrugged.  
"Not really, maybe some strands of hair but that's it." Trask ran his hand through his hair and eyed Stryker. He felt his eyes narrow down as his disinterest was written clearly across his face.

"These girls could leap the program forward years… decades into the future." He straightened up as a thought came to him. "How old is your son now, Major?" Stryker snapped back into the conversation and leaned forward.

"Jason?" He asked, his voice taking a tone of pride. "He's coming up on ten now, if you can believe it." Trask, not wanting to linger on memories, cut straight to the point.  
"Eight years from fighting age," he noticed Stryker straightening up and then continued. "And how many of our sons and brothers did we just ship home in body bags? Maybe fifty, fifty-five thousand? And how many more on the other side?" There was only silence and then he allowed himself to give a small smile. "Never before in all of human history has there been a cause which could unite us as a species. Until now."

Stryker said nothing in response. A fellow worker bustled past carrying a mountain full of paper work. He felt his teeth sink into his lip and then slowly they turned into a smirk.  
"You really hate, mutants, don't you?" Trask chuckled as he leaned against the counter.

"On the contrary, I rather admire them. The things they can do." He looked out of the window to the rows and rows of carriages that were all branded with his logo. Each were full with the Sentinels he had been working on. "I see mutants as our salvation. A common enemy. A common struggle against the ultimate enemy. Extinction. I believe our new friends are going to help us usher in a new era, Bill. A new era of genuine and long-lasting peace."

-o-

They walked down the hall to Cerebro in twos. Emilia strode in front with Logan, previously opening doors for Charles and Hank. Emilia found herself having to bite down on her lip to stop herself from openly grinning. It had far been too long since the last time she had been down here. Falling back once the path was clear, Emilia and Logan then remained behind Charles with Hank. Emilia tapped her hand against her thigh, almost giddy from what they were about to do. The men surrounding her did not match her excitement, instead their faces became gloomier and grim as they advanced forward.

"When was the last time you were down here?" Logan asked as Cerebro's door advanced.  
"The last time we went looking for students," Hank replied.  
"A lifetime ago," Charles added.

They slowed down as they came to the door. A sharp light shot out from the centre and scanned Charles' face. Upon recognition, a voice that Emilia hadn't heard in years spoke softly.  
"Welcome, Professor." Emilia took a step forward and went to take another when she realised no one was moving. She turned and found Charles halting as the door opened.

"I don't think I can do this," he admitted, his voice wavering.  
"I believe you can, I trust you." He looked at her and she felt his eyes searching hers before a scoff came out.

"You don't trust anyone." Slowly, her hand reached out and clasped over his.  
"I trust you." Her nails were long and some were jagged from her encounter with Erik, she wondered if they hurt him when she gave a light squeeze to his hand.

"Raven's wounded," Hank reminded them and Emilia moved out of the way for Charles to move to Cerebro. "She won't be moving fast." Charles' hands reached forward and held on to the dust covered helmet. Thickly coated, he blew onto the helmet and the dust swirled into the air.

"These are muscles I haven't stretched in a long time." Hoisting the helmet over his head, a low blue glow radiated from the centre of it. A gasp came from Charles and a surge of red light charged towards them. Hundreds of different people were then sprawled across the room. Thunderous cries for help caused the hairs on her neck to stand up. The room seemed to spin as they became more and more overwhelming. A high screech broke her concentration and she found Cerebro whirling out of control.

"Charles," Hank warned as he too noticed his creation reacting. The three them stood there waiting for something to happen, instead the machine grew more frantic and Charles remained unresponsive.  
"Charles!" Logan bellowed and at the sound of glass smashing she raised her arm up to protect herself. When it was clear, she looked to see smoke drifting from the machine and glass shined like crystals at her feet. Charles heaved the helmet off as Hank was swiftly by his side.

"Charles, it's all right," Hank's arms were around Charles, comforting him. He patted Charles' back before excusing himself. "I'll go check the generator." Emilia watched as he sprinted down the hall. Charles' panting sliced the air and she fidgeted, not really knowing what to do.

"It's not the machinery, is it?" Logan asked.  
"I can't do this. My mind-"

"Yes, you can," Logan interrupted. Charles vigorously shook his head.  
"It won't take it."  
"You're just a little rusty."

"You don't understand. It's not a question of being rusty. I can flip the switches, I can turn the knobs. But, my power comes from here. It comes from..." Charles pointed to his heart. "And it's broken." Emilia felt Logan glance at her and she turned away, knowing what he was thinking.

"Emilia, could you go check on Hank, please?" Emilia nodded at Logan's request and scurried away down the hall. Instead of going to Hank she found herself going back to Charles' room. She grabbed the 'Pride and Prejudice' book and went to her own room. She leapt under the covers of the bed and dived into the unread book.

 _'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.'_

She continued to read the next few chapters, or at least she tried to. Her interest had not peaked and as she delved further into the book she found that she could not concentrate. A heavy sigh came from her as she rolled across the bed. The words had no meaning to her and the instinct to never put a book down had died out over the years of her adult life. She bit down on her lip hard as she willed herself to keep reading.

 _This isn't like you,_ she told herself, _the only problem you had with reading was that you couldn't put them down._ Her head fell into the pillow and she felt herself slowly fall asleep.

-o-

Her mother visited her dream. Emilia stood in the family's florist shop, her mother next to her telling her which flowers to put in a bouquet.

"Five pink roses, some pink alstroemeria and one or two gypsophila," her mother commanded and Emilia did what she was told. After that bouquet was down another load of ribbons and bows were dropped in front of her. "Four sunflowers, four orange germini's, and three roses, the cream ones not the yellow." Emilia reached for the sunflowers and she placed them next to the roses. As she reached out for more she spotted that they had changed to lilies.

"Emilia, I said sunflowers," her mother's voice was sickly sweet.  
"I know," she replied. "I'm sorry." She reached again and found the entire pot had changed from sunflowers to lilies.  
"Emilia?" The lilies wrapped around her wrists, tickling her. Then, they became tighter and scorched her flesh. As she went to shout to her mother for help, she felt herself being pulled back and slammed onto a cold, familiar bed.

"No," she cried out as the florist disappeared. She looked down and saw that the lilies had become leather straps holding her down. She felt her ankles being strapped down and before she could scream a mouth guard was rammed in. It was the same dream she'd have over and over again since the first time the procedure had been done to her. Remembering what normally happens, she looked to her right where the doctor always stood.

"Sit still and count to ten, it'll all be over soon," he said. She felt something clasp onto her temples and they turned the power on.

Her body began to violently shake as a thousand lights went on and off in her head. Her screams ripped through her throat but never made it past her lips. The mouth guard silenced them and she was overtaken with a pounding in her head.

"Let me see what happens when I do this…" she heard his voice echo. Another bolt ran through her and her mind burned. Her chest pushed forward and heaved as it surged across her. They continued to fiddle with the switches as she writhed under the pain. "Can you handle more? I really want to try something else." She shook her head, begging silently for him to let her go. He turned his back and she felt a sob choke through her as she watched him flick the switch.

This time, she felt nothing. The burn was still there, it flickered through her bones and seared her brain. But there wasn't any pain. She was… numb. Not in a pleasurable, euphoric way. There was nothing.

In an instant her eyes opened and she awoke in her bed covered in a cold sweat. Clutching the sheets around her, she found herself flooded in darkness. She looked out the window and saw the moon high in the night sky. Moving slowly out of the bed, she made her way to the clock on the wall. It was two in the morning. She groaned, knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. Her stomach growled in response as she realised that she hadn't eaten anything. She kept the bundle of sheets wrapped around her as she crept through the mansion.

Her bare feet padded down the stairs and found herself hurrying to the kitchen underneath the stares of ancient portraits. When she arrived she dived into the cupboards to find nothing. Wondering how they managed to get by, she settled on an apple that she assumed was bought by Hank.

"What are you doing up?" Emilia hit herself in the jaw with the fruit as she jolted from the noise. She spun around and found Charles waiting expectantly behind her.

"You frightened me," was all she was able to say as she didn't know if she were to nurse her jaw or the apple.  
"I'm sorry," he then repeated himself. "What are you doing?"

"I was hungry," she waved the apple to prove it. "I'm sorry if I woke you."  
"You didn't." He moved in his wheelchair to face her.

"What are _you_ doing up?" She asked as she took a bite of the apple.  
"Couldn't sleep," he explained. Her eyes stayed on his as he looked out the window to a part of the gardens. She noticed he was staring at a great oak tree; one his grandfather had planted before he had been born. She remembered him telling her about how that had been his favourite tree as a child.

As she sunk her teeth in for another bite, she was over swarmed by images of Raven in her human form, wondering around an unfamiliar airport. Knowing that it wasn't a vision due to her hold on reality, she focused on Charles and realised that it was his thoughts. She listened as he remembered the time Raven had came to him in her true blue form and spoke about them 'against the world'.

He now wondered how 'us against the world' had tragically became 'me against you'.

"It might have been a couple years but I know when someone is in my mind," Emilia's eyes widened as she realised she had been caught out. "What are you looking for?"

"I didn't know I was in there, I'm sorry."  
"Looks like your mutation is starting to go back to its normal self."

"Looks like it." She was able to hear that his thoughts still lingering on Raven. Shuffling off the worktop she sat on, she moved opposite him and sat down at the kitchen table.

"So… do you come here often?" She joked, trying to change the subject.  
"Not often enough," he replied and Emilia knew that was the end to that conversation. She chomped down on the apple as his thoughts of the blue scaled mutant became heavy in the room. She sighed and felt herself succumb to his thoughts.

"How did it go with Raven?"  
"She's going to Washington to kill Trask." She raised an eyebrow yet was unsurprised at her friend's determination.

"Does she know that killing Trask will only make matters worse?"  
"Unfortunately, yes." She felt herself delve into his thoughts more and found something she hadn't expected to see for a very long while.

"You still have hope for her?" She asked. He smiled and Emilia was surprised to feel her heart sink.  
"Always." The ticking of the clock on the wall was the only sound they could hear. She heard herself scoff and was stunned at her own attitude.

"She's a lost cause," she admitted to Charles. "You need to stop trying to control her."  
"I'm not trying to control her."

"You are," she argued. "I know that violence isn't your way but what if this is who she is meant to be?" He said nothing, the bags underneath his eyes gave away the notion that he was too tired to argue back. "Trask has not only killed mutants, he has experimented on them and butchered them," at her sudden outburst she felt her eyes begin to water. "I was going to be one of those mutants."

"I won't let that happen to you," was his immediate response.  
"Don't you think that Trask should pay for what he's done? For the mutants he took, for what happened to-" she was unable to finish the sentence as the image of Sean Cassidy came to her head. "Don't you think justice should be served?"

"Emilia, do not excuse revenge by calling it justice."  
"But it is! Don't you think he should pay?"

"Not with his life," before Emilia could argue he overtook her. "Taking revenge will just bring more prejudice which is how the Sentinels will be born. Can't you see that?" She stopped and bit her lip. She looked down at the floor, unable to meet his eyes.

"Of course I do... I just hate it when you prove me wrong," a small smile came to her and she looked up again. "I remember when you dreamed of a world without violence."  
"We dreamed," Charles interrupted and then looked at her, eyebrows raised. "It wasn't just me." She leaned back in her chair, twirling the apple between her fingers.

"How does that dream feel, knowing what the future is going to be like?" She pressed her lips together, waiting for a response. He kept his eyes on hers and did not blink once.  
"Any dream worth having, Emilia, is a dream worth fighting for." At his words she drew her knees up to her chin. He looked away and Emilia was left to take another bite of her apple.

"You seem more intelligent than usual," she eventually replied, she then tilted her head. "Are you sober?"

"It's nearly three in the morning," he responded, rubbing his eyes.  
"So, it's not that?" He sighed audibly and arched an eyebrow at her.

"Do you always expect the lowest of me?"  
"Yes." He paused, surprised that she admitted that and then raked his hand through his hair. He opened his mouth to respond and then realised that he had no words.

"How've you been these past few years?" He asked, changing the conversation.  
"Apart from being locked up in a mental institution?" She replied, then gave a sympathetic smile at his uncomfortable expression. "They haven't been the best. My father passed away."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know."  
"It was cancer," she explained. "My mother cut me out of the will."

"What?"  
"She didn't want a 'freak' inheriting her husband's money."

"What were you supposed to inherit?"  
"Not much, just a couple hundred, my parents were never 'well off'. My sister lives in a house with her own family, whilst my mother lives in ours with her new husband."

"Your brother?" She shrugged.  
"He's doing something with the Army."

"I'm sorry again about your father and the will."  
"Doesn't matter now," she played with a ring on her left hand. "I ended up stealing it." His eyes widened and his arm dropped from his side.

"You what?"  
"I didn't steal the money," she clarified still twirling the ring. "I just took some of his things. Some photographs, stuff of his from when he was in the war and one of his jackets." Her thoughts then went to the night she had left home with Erik and the eight inch ship she had broken. "I also stole an ornament of his." Wanting to cleanse her own thoughts of what had happened that night, she reached across to the small radio and switched it on.

 _'I've just got to get a message to you, hold on, hold on,'_ sang a member of the Bee Gees. _'One more hour and my life will be through, hold on, hold on.'_ She leaned back against the chair and listened to the words _._ _'I told him I'm in no hurry, but if I broke her heart, won't you tell her I'm sorry.'_ Emilia glanced to Charles and wondered if he too was listening _. 'And for once in my life I'm alone, and I've got to let her know just in time before I go.'_ She switched the channel as the music became more depressing.

 _'I can't believe that she would leave me on my own. It's just not right when every night I'm all alone.'_ She noticed Charles' eyes glance at the radio's choice of Beatles song. Emilia's remembered the picture of Raven she had seen in his room and reached over to change the station immediately.

 _'Well it just goes to show things are not what they seem.'_ Never hearing the song before, she left it on and closed her eyes. _'Please, Sister Morphine, turn my nightmares into dreams. Oh, can't you see I'm fading fast?'_ Her eyes snapped out and wanted to screech at the radio, she switched it once more.

 _'I don't want you to tell me just what you intend to do now,'_ recognising 'The Moody Blues' she let them play and took a deep breath as it continued. ' _'Cause how many times do I have to tell you, darling, darling, I'm still in love with you now?'_ She felt her eyelids beginning to droop as the singer kept on crooning.

"Y'know," Charles began, causing her eyes to flutter open. "If you need help with your mutation you could just ask me and Hank for it." She nodded and raised her eyebrows to keep her eyes open.  
"I know."

"Then why don't you?" She rested her chin on her hand as she answered.  
"I guess that I don't like asking for help because I don't like admitting I need it."

"Then I'll doubt you'll achieve much unless you allow others to help you." She blew out her cheeks at his strong words. His expression then turned sympathetic as he noticed the look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"I feel like something bad is going to happen," she confessed.  
"What kind of bad?" Emilia craned her head back up to look at him.

"You know when you're reading a book and you're on the last few chapters? But you realise that it's not going to end well and all you can do is hope that it's not going to end like this?" His blue eyes were full of understanding. She felt her heart skip, knowing that for the first time in years she was being understood. She rushed on. "I feel as if the same thing is happening, but not to the characters I've read about but to everyone I know."

His hand reached across the table and held on tight to hers. He touched her and her wrist blazed where his fingers met her skin. She bit down hard on her lip as she struggled to concentrate with his touch.  
"We're going to be alright, you'll see."

 _He is connected to everyone and cannot turn away,_ she understood that. His thoughts and emotions are bound with the thoughts of others. She knows that he must learn to carry the entire weight of their problems and attempt to not be crushed by it. And she knows that a long time ago he had loved the world for all its greatness, but now had to learn to love it even with all of its corrupt horrors. His thumb ran over her knuckles. As her eyes drooped once more, she removed the ring from her index onto her ring finger. She pretended to herself that it was the engagement ring he had once given her, not the crap trinket she wore.

 _'I don't want to see you go. But, darling, you'd better go now.'_

-o-

Emilia woke up hours later, red marks covering her face from the table. Her hand still loosely gripped on to Charles'. Withdrawing it, she stayed as quiet as possible to not wake the slumbering man opposite her. She bit her lip, knowing that it must be uncomfortable for him to sleep in the chair like that. She spotted a plaid blanket across the room and draped it across his legs.

She left him to sleep and wandered to the main staircase of the mansion and stood there, wondering what to do with herself. Cerebro came to mind. Her breathing haltered as she deliberated if she could even do it. Praying that no one else in the mansion was awake, she rushed forward, hair flying behind her as she made her way to the machine. The hall was dark and Emilia's heart hammered, terrified that something was going to jump out. She took a step forward and everything then flooded into a stark bright light. Now that the doors were clearly in her sight, she made sure to not lose eye contact with it as she came closer.

"You alright, bub?" A stabbing pain hit as her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. Emilia whipped around and found Logan standing where she had just been. His cigar hung limply out of the side of his mouth.  
"Bit early to be having one of those, don't you think?" She asked, ignoring his question. He shrugged. "Did you know Hank has done tests on them in the lab? They actually increase-"

"Increase the risk of cancer," he interrupted, his eyes narrowing. "Yeah, he told me earlier."  
"Ah," she responded. Then she gave a strained smile, not really knowing what to do. He took a puff from his cigar and she fidgeted as snakes of smoke swirled between them.

"There a reason why you're down here at five in the morning?" He eventually asked.  
"I thought I heard something," she answered. Her eyes stayed trained on his, wondering if he would see through her.

"Really?" He asked, eyebrows raising. "It sounded pretty quiet to me." Lifting her head, her eyes flickered to the end of the hall.

"What are you doing up this early?" She inquired, wanting to change the subject.  
"I could ask you the same."

"Bad dream," she lied. She had not dreamt at all in the kitchen. His eyes widened as he appeared to be recounting something.  
"Me too."

"What happened in yours?"  
"It was just of someone I knew a long time ago," in that moment he seemed to crumble and opened his mouth to speak more. "Her name was Rogue. You remind me of her, your mutation's similar to hers." Not wanting to press the subject, she went back to the last time they had been in the hall.

"What happened with Charles and Raven?"  
"She didn't listen; she's going to kill Stryker," he explained. He took the cigar out and stared at Cerebro's door. "Is there any chance you can stop her?"

"I... I can't use Cerebro, not yet," she admitted and then felt stupid as she remembered her original plan.

"So your telepathy's not back?"  
"No, well, I mean yes." His brows furrowed in confusion. "I can hear bits and pieces of people's thoughts, but it's like a jigsaw puzzle really."

"Are you sure it's the medication they gave you that's stopping you?" She arched her own brow at him.  
"Of course it is, Hank told you what they were giving me."

"Right," he began. "The thing is, I've noticed over the past few days that you've been able to use different powers. All apart from your telepathic powers." She remained frowning at him, not understanding his point. He sighed. "I'm just wondering if there was something else stopping you."

"Like what?" Her eyes searched his face for any answers and when she got none she took a deep breath. "Look, I don't think I can use Cerebro ever."

"Maybe the reason you can't use it is because you don't believe." He closed the space between them. "Look, I'm not the person who can help you. But I know someone who might." Before she could question him he rested his hand on her shoulder. "I need you to look into my mind."

"Logan, I can't."  
"You can." She shook her head fiercely.

"I haven't done this in years, I'm nowhere as powerful as Charles."  
"You are, you just need to believe."

"I really can't."  
"Look," he leaned forward, coming down to her height. "Where I'm from, you're the Supreme."

"I'm the what?" She asked, her voice going up an octave. Then her memories stirred as she remembered a telephone call she had with Sebastian Shaw years ago. _'The Supreme mutant,'_ he had voiced to her, _'a God among insects.'_

"The Supreme. You could replicate and absorb any mutant's abilities in the whole world. That makes you the supreme mutant, that's where the name comes from. It's rare as well, people are normally only born with that mutation nearly every hundred years," he explained. She crossed her arms in front of her.

"And I'm one of them," she said, trying to understand.  
"You were." Her eyes snapped up at him.

"Were?" Instead of answering her he seemed to ready himself for something.  
"Just look into my mind." She curled her fists and shook her head again.

"I could rip it apart; it'll be beyond repair."  
"There's no damage you can do that hasn't already been done," a sad smile graced his face and Emilia felt her fists begin to fall. "Trust me."

Her heart thudded and she reluctantly raised her fingers to her temple, focusing on his mind. She closed her eyes, readying herself for what was to come. A gasp escaped her mouth and she felt hundreds of memories pour into her own mind.

"Hey, Logan," a smooth voice called. She watched as Logan looked up at the staircase she had only passed five minutes ago.  
"Hey, Jean." She made her way down the stairs, crimson hair styled to fall just below her ears. She jumped the last few steps, grinning and Emilia watched in horror as the scene changed to Logan cradling her body. Everything around them was in ruin.

"Kill me," she heard her beg. She shuddered as his claws tore through his skin.  
"I love you."

Her screams haunted Emilia as she watched helplessly whilst Logan plunged the metal through the woman's body. She scrunched her face as she felt herself begin to lose her hold over his memories.

 _There's more to see,_ a voice urged her, _hold on._ She opened her eyes and she was no longer in the hallway. She found herself laying on a slab and moment of panic went through her as she had flashbacks of being tied down. She took a few seconds to calm herself before sitting up. Confused, terrified and mesmerised at the same time, she took in the desolate setting around her. Light poured in through the painted glass making the floor appear stained in various colours. Her shoes clopped against the floor and she shivered from the surrealism of it all.

"Emilia," a voice whispered. She turned to find a man in a wheelchair and instantly recognised who it was from the 'X' symbol in the wheels. Hesitantly, she made her way around the chair to face him. He was older with no hair and more wrinkles. She felt her throat tightening as she looked him in the eye.

"Charles?" She asked, just to make sure. A nod came from him and she looked around her to find the other mutants. Logan laid on the slab where she had awoken from, a woman sat behind him, weeping and soaked in blood. Looking behind Charles, she saw a figure whose thoughts were all too familiar. Erik. She was thankful to see them both alive.

"So, this is our future?" She asked as she turned back to him. A small, cheerless smile appeared.  
"Our futures, not yours." She struggled to swallow at his words and moved away to face the young woman behind Logan. She stared at a young man next to her who comforted her.

"I'm guessing I don't live that long," she uttered taking in all the sight. He did not answer and his voice was replaced with a small whisper that came from somewhere. She spun around, trying to find it. She found a comforting smile on the elder Charles' face.

"There's someone here who'd like to meet you." He pointed behind her. She turned to find a small woman who she had overlooked before. She was staring, wide eyed at Emilia.

"Hello," the woman eventually said. Her light hair almost matched Emilia's in complexion. She timidly walked towards her, unsure of what was going on. She turned back to Charles with a questioning glance, he gave a nod of assurance and she turned back.

"Do I know you?" Emilia asked. The girl shook her head.  
"No, not yet." Her eyes flickered to the man behind them before they went back to Emilia. "We need you to help Charles."

"Why?" She asked. "I'm not going to make a difference."  
"You will."

"I won't, I'm not that important."  
"Yes, you are." Emilia crossed her arms and no longer saw the point in being here. She took in the mutants surrounding her's clothes and the chair that Charles sat on, then tried to pinpoint the year.

"I'm not even part of this future," she replied, still adamant. Giving up on guessing, she frowned at the lurid colours on the floor. "What year is this?"  
"2023." Her eyes widened and heard herself give out a low whistle. Remembering what Charles had said about it not being her future, she scoffed.

"I bet I don't even make it to 2000."  
"You're right, you don't," her neck snapped up to the blunt tone. "You make it to 1989. But you do a lot."

"Like what?" She asked, wanting to know as much as she could.  
"You fight in a few wars, inspire a lot of people. You inspired me."

"By doing what?" The stained glass projected a warm yellow onto the strangers face, a green found its way onto Emilia's hand. She looked at the strangers wrists which had a deep red projected onto, Emilia fought the urge to call themselves twins as the stranger too had scars littering her.

"You raised funds in New York for a mutant health organisation," as she spoke her lips curled into a proud grin, another jagged scar went through both. "You fought against mutant experimentation and slavery, you spoke for the mutants who had no voice." Emilia drew back from her fearfully. Noticing the disbelief written on her face, the woman reached out. "Maybe I should show you something you're more familiar with?" The woman motioned for Emilia to read her mind. Raising her fingers to her temple, she was bombarded with images of the school they had once built. "You helped create the first school for mutant children, you helped raise hundreds of children."

Her hands gripped the sides of her dress. She scoured over the woman and an eerie sensation of familiarity filled her.  
"Who are you?"  
"Guess."

For a minute she's perplexed. Then she realises. Emilia's feelings flooded to her eyes and threatened to pour over as her hand shot up to stop herself from crying out. She should have known from the white-gold hair, the curve of her chin and most definitely from the strong brows. She smiled and Emilia felt a chill as it was identical to her own smile. The woman had inherited Charles' eyes.

"You're..." Emilia began but was unable to finish.  
"I'm your daughter," she finished for her. Emilia felt the tears she had tried to hold back crash down onto her face. She was tired, confused, shocked and delighted but yet horrified at the same time.

"If the future is changed," she spoke after wiping away the flood of tears. "And now that me and your father have met sooner. You might not even exist." The woman bit her scarred lip and Emilia, almost maternally, wanted to tell her off for it.

"Maybe," she admitted. "But that's a risk I'm willing to take. Anyway, I got a good five years with you."  
"Five years?" Emilia spat out, almost stunned.

"A man, William Stryker, abducts you and other mutants when I'm five. I don't see you again." She furrowed her brows that were painstakingly similar to Emilia's. "Didn't Logan tell you?"

"No, why would he?"  
"Because Stryker takes both of you, that's how you meet." Before Emilia could ask anything more, her future daughter reached out and touched Emilia's dress. "We need you to stop Raven from killing Trask." Realising the depths of what will happen if Raven is not stopped, she felt her eyes burning and watering from this post-apocalyptic world.

"I'm not the same as I was before," she admitted. She doubted that she'd be able to even cause a flicker of doubt in Raven's mind.

"Good," she conceded.  
"Good?" Emilia asked, alarmed.

"Your experience will bring you wisdom."  
"My experience brings pain and trauma," she felt her jaw jut out as her eyes flooded. "I can hardly wake up in the morning because it hurts so much."

"Your pain will make you stronger," her hand moved in a soothing motion to calm her down. Emilia realised that she was being comforted by her yet to born daughter and froze at bizarre it all was. "You need to be strong, you need to become their strength. And when you learn from your pain and embrace it, it will make you more powerful than you ever imagined."

When she next opened her eyes Logan stared back at her. Her hands went to her face and their freezing temperature shocked her blazing cheeks.  
"Well?" He asked and stood impatiently. Images came back to her of what the girl had said and a name frantically repeated itself in her mind.

"Who's William Stryker?" Logan's breath hitched, his remembered who she had drawn on the plane's tables.  
"How do you know that name?"

"That blonde girl told me." She could not bring herself to admit that it was her daughter, a part of her suspected however that Logan already knew.  
"She did?" He asked.

"She said that you and I meet him together." She tilted her head. "How can you not remember that?"  
"I had my memories wiped, I can't remember a lot of my past." Taking in her pink rimmed eyes and the tear tracks down her cheeks, the hand on her shoulder gave a tight squeeze. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I just, need time to think." He nodded and then lead her back to back down the hall, away from Cerebro.  
"So, do you think you'll be able to change Raven's mind?" Reaching the main stairwell, they stopped and faced each other.

"I could try," she offered. "Find me in an hour. I need to get changed and then I'll try." He nodded and walked to the stairs. He must have assumed that she was going back to Charles in the kitchen for he did not look back once. As soon as he left her sight she raced to the phone book. Flicking to the 'M' section she skimmed until she found the name she was searching for. Double checking that it was the right one, she hurried to the telephone in the middle of the room.

After dialling the number, she didn't have to wait a second more as someone instantly picked up.

"Hello?" A familiar voice asked.  
"Is this Peter?" Emilia asked.

"Depends, who's asking?"

"I don't know if you remember me but I'm Emilia from the plane."  
"Emilia? It's five in the morning."

"I know, I'm sorry if I woke you. I need your help."

-o-

An hour later, Logan had waited by the stairs for ten minutes before going to Cerebro. He thought that maybe his time was wrong and she'd grown impatient and went down there instead. The hallway was dark and showed no trace of any life. He cursed to himself and then charged back to the staircase where Hank was made his way down.

"Have you seen Emilia?" Hank asked.  
"No, I was just looking for her."  
"I just checked her room and the library."

"Is something wrong?" Charles emerged from the kitchen, half asleep. Logan felt dread seize his throat, if Charles didn't know where she was then they definitely wouldn't. Hank and Logan looked at each other debating who should be the one to tell the bad news. Both then remembered he was telepathic.

"Emilia's gone," Hank explained. Charles' face fell as their thoughts were confirmed.  
"Why would she leave?" Logan eyed his shoes, scuffling against the wooden floor. He looked up again to see both men expectantly looking at him.

"I asked if she would try to change Raven's mind using Cerebro." He heard a sigh from Hank.  
"She's gone with Raven to kill Trask." The dread he had felt in his throat travelled down to his chest.

"Not Trask, someone else. Someone who's going to bring me and her a lot of pain someday." He silently cursed himself as he remembered. "She's going to kill Stryker."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the late updates, have an 8000 words chapter! I saw Apocalypse, it was really good despite reviews. I want Rebecca back as Mystique, I think it's time for her to shine again. I wish that Jubilee was a bigger part of it though, Sophie Turner was amazing as Jean but I do wish her hair was more ginger. One complaint I can think of right now is Mystique's make-up... like what happened to it? The scales aren't even the same and the colour is off. I'll be sad if Rebecca doesn't reprise her role once more as the timeline has sort of now caught up with the old movies, she was awesome.**

 **Reviews:**

 _anonymouscsifan:_ Have you seen Apocalypse? I loved the amount of Quicksilver! They sort had a 'moment' but I wouldn't say romantic more of an understanding of what she had been through but they're going back to their old ways again. Thank you for your kind words again, sorry for the late update, it was harder to write than expected! :)  
 _mirakiayah:_ Thank you! :)  
 _Guest:_ Thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
 _erina destiny:_ so do I haha! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

 **Please leave a comment it motivates me to write more! :) It's also 1:30 in the morning and my bum is numb... wow.**


	9. Fast Enough For You?

**C** **hapter 9 - Fast Enough For You?**

 _'In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me_  
 _When I awake my poor heart pains_  
 _So when you come back and make me happy_  
 _I'll forgive and take all the blame.'_

 **\- You Are My Sunshine, The Civil Wars**

* * *

It was early morning and she wandered the streets of Washington not really knowing where she was heading. A soft breeze blew past and the crowded streets seemed to bustle even faster. Her body flinched as the sound of a screaming child stabbed though the air. She wondered if anyone else felt the chill like she did. The wrap dress she wore was long enough to hide her scars inflicted on her thighs through the years, but every so often the thin pink lines threatened to burst out.

"So," spoke the silver haired boy behind her. "Who are we looking for?" Emilia eyed Peter before grabbing his jacket and tugging him across the street.  
"A friend of mine, they should be staying in a hotel near here."

"So you've got directions?" He asked. The boy had been kind enough to take her to different places in the city so she'd be able to try track down her old blue friend, but he was beginning to test her patience.

"No," she admitted.  
"Then how do you know where she is?"  
"I don't."

"Then why am I here?"  
"In case I get lost." She heard a low groan come from him and she knew he was bored. Pulling a note from her pocket, she stopped in her tracks.

"Think you can try find out where 'The Dragon' hotel is and get us drinks?" She clutched onto his jacket before he left. "And try to take it slow?" He grumbled in response and took the money before turning his back. She leaned against a wall, her fingers dug into the pockets of her suede jacket. She noticed a woman with dark coiled hair freeze next to her. Slowly, her head turned to Emilia's direction. Standing straighter, Emilia felt her palms sweat as panic spread through her at the fear of being caught.

"Emilia?" She felt herself at ease as she recognised the thoughts swirling through the woman's mind.  
"Charles?"

"Why did you leave?" The woman moved close to her, her corkscrew hair glistened under the sun.  
"I had a message from the future," she replied and looked straight ahead at the hectic road far away from the stranger.

"Logan?"  
"Yes, how do you-" she was cut off.

"I saw it too."  
"Then you saw what I saw?" She asked, her voice raising an octave. The girl who had looked exactly like her came to mind.

"Yes."  
"Did you see her?"  
"Who?"  
"The girl," she began, and then a clueless expression came on the stranger's face. "You didn't see her?"

"There was a girl, she looked like you."  
"She's my daughter." The stranger's eyebrows shot up.  
"Oh."  
"I mean, our daughter... I think." They went even higher.  
"Oh."

"What did she look like?" They asked.  
"She had your eyes." She thought of the scars that were etched on the girl's face and changed the subject. "Why are you here?"

"Wondering why you left."  
"Stryker took me away from her," she explained.

"So you're going to kill him?" A red '54 Ford convertible drove past and Emilia's eyes followed it till it turned onto the next street.  
"Do you blame me?"

"Come home, Em'." Her eyes remained on where the car had just disappeared, they hardened underneath the sun.  
"Not until he's gone."

"He won't hurt you."  
"He will and he'll hurt her." She looked at the stranger, they were stunning and Emilia somehow managed to say goodbye. She stormed away, her bag swinging against her hip.

"I won't let that happen," she looked up to find a blonde woman coming towards her. "I made a promise to protect you." The woman advancing wore a tribal dress that shifted in the wind revealing her thighs. Emilia felt herself full of envy at the lack of scars.

"Yes, but I still got hurt, didn't I, Charles?"  
"Emilia, I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't know." She stopped to face the woman.

"Right, you didn't know. And you only wanted to know when you needed me for something." Marching away once more, a pale man walking past smashed into her. Her bag crashed to the ground and when she turned back he had disappeared. Now a new man knelt before her. He reminded her of Darwin, the friend they had all lost to Shaw years ago.

"Emilia," he began as he picked up her bag. His handsome face did not disguise the fact that Charles was in his mind. "I didn't come for you because I wanted you to help Erik. I came for you because-"

"Because?" She asked, cutting him off as she took her bag back.  
"It doesn't matter," he said, moving on. "But if you kill Stryker you'll be creating countless more just like him."

"Then I'll do what has to be done." She took her leave and thought herself to be rid of him. She felt someone grab her hand.  
"That isn't your way," a man with hair longer than Charles' pleaded. He had a moustache that rivalled Trask's.

"Then what is 'my way'?" She asked the Beatles look alike. "I'm done with feeling weak all of the time and I'm done with waiting for someone to come and rescue me. I… I want to feel powerful." She batted his arm away and made her way up the never ending street. A girl, no older then nineteen, made a beeline for her across the crowd of people. Thinking that the girl must need directions, Emilia gave a small smile.

"I know what Stryker will do but killing him will not solve anything." The smile faded as she felt Charles' presence. "It will set you on a path from which there is no return. An endless cycle of killing. Us and them, until there is nothing left. But we can stop that, right now, you and I. You just have to come home."

"I have to?" She repeated and then scoffed. "I don't have to do anything. What I have to do is get rid of Stryker for my own future."

"You do?" The girl he had decided to use gave a sad smile. "Then, wherever you go, I will find you. And, Emilia, if you make me, I will stop you." She leaned into the girl. Her hand outstretched and stroked their cheek with a mixture of pity and disbelief written on her face.

"You can try."

She left for the last time and turned back to see the girl confused as to what happened. She enjoyed the peace for only a few minutes before a gust of wind hit her.

"Hey is everything alright?" Peter stood before her, two drinks in his hands.  
"Everything's fine. Did you get the directions?"

"Yeah it's like five minutes away." His silver brows raised up high. "Oh and here's your change." The note was shoved back into her hand.  
"I thought I told you to take it slow?" She grumbled as she held her stolen drink.

"It was boring. I checked out the block out instead."

"See anything interesting?" She asked as she took a sip of her drink.  
"Yeah, there's something that you're probably going to want to see."

She felt him grab her neck and warn her about whiplash before a surge of wind went past her and she was in another place entirely. His hand pointed to a wall in front of them plastered with different posters. There was one of Robert Redford and one underneath of the Bee Gees, but plastered on top was a face that she could not forget.

 **'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN?'** was written in bold on top of a mug shot. The woman displayed beneath's face was gaunt and far too thin. To her horror she found herself staring back at her. The pictures had been taken on one of her first days in the institution. **'EMILIA JONES IS A SCHIZOPHRENIC, MANIC-DEPRESSIVE WHO ESCAPED FROM A MENTAL INSTITUTION,'** it read **'IF FOUND APPROACH WITH EXTREME CAUTION.'**

"Are there any more of these?" She asked, her voice nearly breaking.  
"Yeah, they're on a couple of streets."  
"Can you get rid of them?"

Within seconds she was handed twelve different crumpled papers. Tearing the one off the wall she chucked them all into the nearest bin.

"Where's the hotel again?" She watched as Peter bit his lip, uncertain as to what to do. His eyes flicked back to where they had piled the posters. Another surge of fear raced down her as she became terrified that he would phone the number on the posters. For who was he to trust a stranger? Her eyes began to water. He moved by her side and directed her down a street. Acting as if he had never seen a thing, he began to ramble and Emilia soared with happiness.

"Are you sure you don't want to report your friend in case she actually takes this dude out?" He asked as he took another sip out of his drink. "I mean, I'm all for a thrill and everything but I don't think murder is a way to spend any weekend unless you're psychotic." Remembering the posters he had just seen she watched him trip over his words. "Not that you're psychotic, or mentally unstable. But, you must have done something pretty serious to get in there though. What did you do?" Ignoring him she took another sip. "What did you do, dude? Why'd they have you in there?" She gave a sharp look warning him to leave it. "Okay, never mind. Are you dating that rich hippie guy?" She raised an eyebrow at his description. "Does he do Dope? Because I think he was gonna offer me some Dope."

"He doesn't do Heroin," she muttered.  
"Do you?" She didn't bother answering and they continued to walk, he then went on. "So you're not dating? It's the guy with sideburns right? I thought you might have been into older guys, he looks like he could be your dad. Wait, it's not the sideburns guy is it? It's the nerd one right? You're into smart guys, I get it. Hey, I did physics in high school. I mean, I dropped out but I did some of it."

"Remind me to never get you caffeine again," she grumbled as she grabbed the coffee out of his hand.  
"Sure."

Entering the hotel, she immediately began to criticise it. The carpet was decades old and had a horrendous floral pattern which was ruined by worn patches. Skeeter Davis crooned over the radio and Emilia forced herself to look from the drab curtains.

 _"Why do the birds go on singing, why do the stars glow above?"_ She wandered past the crackly radio as she took in the words. _"Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when I lost your love."_

She leaned into Peter as she spotted the reception desk.  
"Think you can look behind the desk in the books for a 'Raven Darkholme?" He came back to her instantly.  
"She's in room 301." Making her way up the staircase, Skeeter Davis' voice faded away as she came closer to seeing Raven.

 _"I wake up in the morning and I wonder, why everything's the same as it was. I can't understand, no, I can't understand, how life goes on the way it does."_ When she reached room 301 she banged her fist three times against the door. The door opened and a familiar blonde answered, she gave a dry smile.

"Hello sweetie," she greeted and then barged past with Peter in tow.  
"What are you doing?" Raven demanded as the pair took in the room.

"Just visiting," she replied as Peter sat himself down on the bed. "I don't think they'll allow you many visits when they arrest you for murder."  
"I don't plan on getting caught." She discreetly poised two fingers to her head, using Charles' gift to make Peter believe that they were speaking about something else.

"Neither do I," she turned to Raven in earnest. "I need your help."  
"Who are _you_ planning on killing?"

"Stryker, and I'm asking you to help me."  
"Trask is the enemy here, and I thought you were trying to stop me?" Emilia had forgotten how tall Raven was, she felt her chin raising as she tried to hold her shorter ground.

"I've had a message from the future." The woman who had saved her a mere few days ago now scoffed in her face.  
"Don't pull that again."  
"It's too late to stop the sentinels but it's not too late for you to help me." Raven turned her back on her and hastily continued with packing her bag. Emilia noticed a gun being dropped in and looked away in disapproval. _'Pacifist'_ she heard Raven complain as she too noticed her discomfort. How was she supposed to kill someone when she couldn't even look straight at a gun? Raven looked over at Peter and Emilia saw her eyes narrow.

"Who's the guy, is he your new boy toy?" A forced laugh came from Emilia. She couldn't help but wonder if Raven's attitude towards the teenager was from the silent accusation that she had gotten over her brother.  
"You're funny, Raven, _really_."

"How can you trust him enough to talk about murdering people?" Peter wore a dazed expression as he sat twiddling his thumbs staring out the window.  
"I don't," she replied. "He thinks we're talking about going on holiday."

"Nice trick, did you pick that up from your telepath?" Rolling her eyes, Emilia shortened the distance between them.  
"You mean your brother? Raven don't act as if we aren't on the same side. He misses you."

"He misses who I was," she sighed. _I get it, Raven,_ she thought to herself, _you had to grow up someday, but not into a killer._ "So Hank looks like that all the time now?" Raven said with disdain and pointed over to a newspaper draped on the bed. On the cover was the beast that children would go to bed afraid of, but Emilia knew him as her friend.

"Yeah, he takes a shot every morning," she explained. "Could you imagine doing that every day?" She spotted a picture of Azazel being thrown in the bag, Raven's eyes lingering on the red devil longer then she should have.  
"He has it easy." Emilia's head snapped from the paper to her.

 _"Easy?"_ Raven glanced back from her packing at the change of tone. "Did you not see what happened in Paris?"  
"Of course I did," she grumbled and slammed the bag shut.

"So you saw him strung up on display for the whole world to look at him like he was a freak?"

"Are you're planning on stopping me?" Raven asked, changing the conversation once more.  
"I plan on killing Stryker," the words sounded foreign on her tongue. Emilia Jones was going to kill someone. "Raven you're with me or against me, but I will not kill Trask." Her speech weighed heavy in the air. She waited as the woman who would have once been her sister-in-law calculated her next steps. Raven's lips pressed into a thin line.

"Then I choose the latter," her words were meant to sound threatening but there was a wave of insecurity in them. "Stay out of my way." Emilia gave a sad smile and then tugged on Peter's jacket. She only looked back when the door slammed behind her.

"How was your holiday planning?" Peter asked her once they made their way down the stairs.  
"Great, we're going to Rome." When she reached the bottom step she made them stop as she scrambled through her bag for the money she had placed earlier.

"Not to alarm you or anything," Peter whispered, "but that guy other there is checking you out." She looked up to see two men standing near the reception of the hotel staring directly at her.  
"Not my type," she replied as she took in the man's bald thuggish appearance. "Come on," she said, directing him to the doors.

"Excuse me, miss." She felt someone's hand grab her shoulder and the gasp that escaped her mouth caused Peter to jump back to her direction. Instantly, she slapped the hand away, panicking as the last time a stranger held her was when she was being tied down. The stranger immediately recoils from her and she's confused as to why. Then she catches fragments of his thoughts. _He knows who I am,_ she realises, _he thinks I'm insane._ He takes another step toward her, reaching out to subdue her as she looked across the room to see his friend ringing the number printed on the wanted poster. She panics even more. Her nails fly out with the intent to hurt him.

Peter, who had been watching from the side, decided to step in. ' _This girl might just be crazy,'_ was a thought that raced through his head as he saw her nails colliding with the man porky face. His second thought was ' _she's also pretty hot.'_

She's older then him, he assumed four years, but that was nothing big to him. He noticed that the guy opposite had swung a punch out directed to Emilia's face. Peter moved forward and tutted in disapproval as he moved the fist to hit the guys cheek. He grinned to himself before turning to see the other guy dialling on the payphone. Grabbing the guy by the back of his neck to avoid whiplash, he ran across the city before setting him on the side of a bridge. He directed a sharp hit to the guys stomach, causing him to slowly flail backwards. A group of tourists stood in front of them, posing for a Polaroid picture. He zoomed in behind and posed, putting two fingers behind the head of the girl next to him.

The camera flashed and he made his way back but not before picking a rose from a bouquet of flowers. He came back to Emilia and hoisted her up bridal style as he took her miles away from the hotel. Spinning her into a bench in what seemed like a fairly romantic park, he cheekily placed the rose between his teeth. Wrapping an arm around her, he waited for her to catch up with him.

Emilia gasped and raised her arms for the impact of a fist. When it didn't come and she was meet with chirping of birds, she frowned and looked down to see an arm wrapped around her. Looking to the owner of the silver jacket she rolled her eyes and shrugged him off.

"You're not funny," she mumbled as she took in their surroundings. Two fingers tapped her shoulder and she snapped around to a rose.  
"For you," he offered and then winked. She sighed and pushed herself up.

"What happened to those guys?" He shrugged as if it were no big deal.  
"I took care of them for you." There was something about him, he reminded her of someone that she could not put her finger on. He frowned at her staring at him, she knew that frown from somewhere. She wandered around the woodland instead of questioning him. Leaves were scattered around her, already lying dark green from the summer sun.

"I need you to take me to the White House."  
"When?" He replied, the rose twirling between his fingers.

"As fast as possible." Suddenly she was in an entirely new place. A huge line of people stood in front of them and the sun seemed to glare down even harder.

"Fast enough for you?" He smirked as he watched her stare wide eyed at the white house which was in the distance. It would take her more then an hour to get through this queue. Although she would have liked the company, she didn't think she could bare with an impatient Peter any longer then she had to.

"Thank you, but you need to go." A pang of guilt hit her as his face fell. The rose he held dropped to his side.  
"Sure," he said as a smile replaced his disappointed look. "Maybe some other time, yeah?"

"Maybe," she replied, not wanting to lead him on. The rose was pushed into her hand and before she could give it back a gust of wind hit her and he was gone.

-o-

Logan was unsure if his dreams were nightmares or memories. Looking around him everything seemed oddly… normal. In dreams it's as if someone has adjusted the colours of the world. Everything becomes brighter than it should be; the sky wasn't just blue but radiant psychedelic hues, then when it was night it was re-coated by moonlight and the roads that should be grey were a sleek river of black.

What he stood in front of was not adjusted for his sleep deprived mind. _This is not a dream,_ he realised. Without warning a fire soared through him, burning his skin. When he opened his eyes the light around him brought pain. He laid on a medical bed, his wrists and ankles bound.

Then she came to mind.

 _Emilia?_ He wanted to ask but words failed him. He has dreamt of this before, why did he always dream of her? _This is not a dream,_ a voice echoed.

His head slammed to the side and he found Stryker sitting next to him, hesitant to move an inch closer. "Where's Emilia?" He choked out, his voice was hoarse. _If he smirks I'll kill him,_ he felt himself vow, _if he smirks…_

He smirked.

Logan fought against his restraints, growling as his claws ripped through his skin. He stopped fighting when he heard him utter three words.  
"You killed her."

There was a faint buzzing from the room. _This is not a dream,_ something hit his chest like ice.  
"No, no, I… I couldn't."

Emilia. The name sounded sweet on his lips.

Emilia. The name clawed with guilt and tore him open.

He could never will her death. Never. But, now and only now could he remember all of it.

There was anger, fury at the thought of what she had done. What had she done? It did not matter; he had already wrapped his hands around her throat. Cold venom flooded his veins as he heard her beg: "Stop it! Please!" He pressed harder. Her words faded as his gloved hands stopped her. All he could see was her suffocating features and the hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth took over. His claws ripped through his skin and he plunged the metal into her stomach.

He found it hard to breathe. _This is not a dream._ That was all him. He did it. He killed her.

He woke up in a layer of sweat. Looking outside the plane's mirrors he flinched at the bright sky. Turning back, he was not surprised that the private jet belong to a billionaire, it was certainly worthy of it. There were no rows of seats, only the most elegant couches and coffee tables with plush curtains at the windows. He pulled out a cigar, pursed his lips around it once lit and let out a smoky snort.

"Logan, are you alright?" Hank called out from the cockpit. A snake of smoke slithered into the air in front of him. _I kill your friend,_ he was unable to admit, _the mother of your Godchildren._ He then looked over at Charles who had fallen asleep. _I kill your wife,_ _the mother of your children._ Charles didn't stir.

"I'm fine," he managed to choke out and prayed that Charles wouldn't discover what he'd done.

-o-

Her heels sunk into the grass as she made her way to the security. Handing over her bag for inspection she searched the crowds for any sign of Raven. A guard motioned for her to walk through the metal detectors and after passing under it she was handed back her bag.

"Can I see your invitations, please?" Praying that it would work she raised her fingers to her temple. The man's eyes glazed over whilst she envisioned her invitation in his mind. He then nodded falling under spell.  
"Go ahead." She rushed forward to the front of the seating area next to a woman and her baby.

Now came the hard part, figuring out how to get rid of Stryker. She thought of taking over another person's body and then framing them, but the idea of using an innocent person was not something she wanted to do. She pushed the shades protecting her eyes higher as she thought of other ways. She could seduce him. It wouldn't be hard. Yes, that could work, she'd catch him alone and offer him a drink for his services to America. She could slip something into his glass and then when they went to a hotel room she'd do it.

There was one problem that stopped her from each option: he's married and has a son. She had made Peter get as much information as possible about him. He has a son, she would be killing someone's father. She no longer had a father, guilt burnt at the thought of taking someone else's away.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the squealing toddler next to her who decided to reach forward and yank on Emilia's hair. She felt herself inwardly cringe as the child's sticky fingers smeared whatever food he was eating all over her silver-gold hair. Emilia could not force herself to be mad, for the child was now giggling and waving his chubby arms at Emilia.

For a moment she wanted her own child to have in her lap to laugh along with. Then that moment went as she remembered the wanted posters waiting to be seen around the city. For the last couple of years she had thought that she would never have children. It wasn't that she didn't like the idea of them. She just never thought that she, with her new found antisocial behaviour and shaken mind, could ever be fit to raise them. She'd could barely go through a night without being afraid, she had been put through too much. Kids deserved someone gentle and kind. Someone who rarely let the horrors of the world scar them, or at least knew how to hide/handle it.

Someone like Charles.

Emilia turned around, about to say something about the child to the person beside her but froze. For a second she had thought it was Charles next to her, not a stranger. In the past few days she had gotten used to Charles' presence and once again felt the ease she once had when she used to speak to him. She'd grown used to feeling his hand on hers, him making sure that she had everything she needed and always meeting her eyes first in case it was him she wanted. It felt as if he was the only person in the world who she could say anything to. She realised with surprise that although she had just spoken to him hours ago, she missed him.

 _That could have been the last time you'll ever see him_.

She took her suede jacket off when it became unbearable to wear under the heat. She looked down and found fresh purple bruises from her interference with Erik. The child noticed it too and his dimpled fist reached for the colours; Emilia winched. She began to chicken out. Stryker was someone's father. Could she make a young boy a step closer to being an orphan?

What would Charles do? Her eyes swept across the row of people, searching for him. How far would they all go to stop Raven? And now her? Emilia wondered if they would hurt her. No, she trusts him. She knew he would never harm her.

They had both hurt each other years ago, the drunken arguments, shouting so loud at each other that they'd wake Hank up who'd stand awkwardly at the door. Making sure they did not go too far, he'd eavesdrop as a child would on their bickering parents. She'd cool off by going to the library, refusing to share a bed with him until there was an apology. Then she'd collapse atop of a pile of Hanks books and be woken the next morning with a peace offering from Charles. When the arguments became serious she would threaten to leave. The first time she had moved only two steps and Charles had held her close, begging her to not leave him. The next few times she had made it to the door, suitcase in tow before either Hank or Charles blocked the door as she drunkenly tried to barge past them.

Most times she would be sober and clash with him over the misuse of his serum.  
"I thought you wanted this?" He had asked once.  
"I did," she'd replied. "But not like this."

He'd shout, she'd cry and then he'd crumble at the sight of her upset. He'd have her in his arms tight and they'd be alright in the morning. Never once during their arguments had she taken her engagement ring off, until the last time.

Adrienne was pregnant again and Julien did not want their unborn child to be raised around Emilia and Charles' not only unstable relationship but also unstable minds. After saving up enough funds they had bought a tiny house miles away, Julien was picking up work again and Adrienne was planning on working as a vet once more. Julien had approached her one night when she was hiding away in the library.

"We leave at the crack of dawn, I just told Charles." She had nodded and given a sad smile.  
"How'd he react?"  
"Alright, I don't think he cares about anyone leaving anymore as long at it's not you or Hank."

"He does care," she tried to argue, but a look was given from Julien that silenced her.  
"On that note," he began, "Adrienne and I were wondering if you were interested in coming with us?"

"For how long?"  
"Until you move on from this place, until you find someone new." The pen she had been twirling between her fingers stilled. Her head tilted, not knowing if he was serious.

"What are you trying to say?"  
"Come with us," he said before moving in closer. "Em', don't tell me you're happy spending your life like this?"

"He promised he wouldn't take the serum today, he's going to get better." Julien scoffed.  
"You really believe that?"

"Yes," she replied, but her voice betrayed her and broke at the words. "He promised."  
"And how many times has he done this and then went on to take it anyway? How many times are we going to find you crying because you're miserable here? How long's it going to take for you to realise that he's no longer good for you?" Her mouth had began to hung open like a fool, not knowing what to say. She couldn't leave him, too many people had.

"He has always been good for me," she tried to reason. "I can't just leave him, he needs me." It went quiet. Julien had stared her down, hoping that maybe she would break. Then he gave a sweet smile, one that made many women (including her) swoon.  
"Fine," he pushed himself up off the floor and then paused. "Just promise me one thing?" She nodded. "You have spent the last five years waiting for him, don't spend the next five hoping he'll come back."

He had then left, telling her that he'd be outside in an hour, waiting in case she changed her mind. She had left the library and wandered the mansion overthinking everything that had been said. When she made it to Charles' room she peeked in to find nearly everything overturned.

"What're you looking for?" She asked.  
"You know what I'm looking for," he replied gruffly, his back turned to her. He continued to dig through his drawers as a mixture of fear and disappointment peaked in her chest.

"Listen to me..." she tried to sound calm but her heart raced as he searched.  
"Where's the serum?" He asked, breaking her off.

"You don't need it, Charles."  
"Emilia..." he pleaded. She took two steps in, a floral shirt was flung across the room and he went to another drawer.

"Now that Julien and Adrienne will be moving out with Maisie, we'll be on our own." She moved toward him, her fingers went to his back and moved in circling motions to calm him. "Me, you and Hank. It'll be nice and quiet, you just have to give it a chance." He turned on her, his long uncut hair falling in front of his face.

"Where have you put my serum?" Her hand was still outstretched. Feeling rejected, she moved it again to sweep the fallen hair behind his ear. She then pressed it against his cheek.  
"You promised," she whispered. She felt her lower lip jut out, she hoped that it would work and make him crumble like he usually did.

"I know I promised, but I can't do it." Charles' own hand cupped hers, his thumb stroked the back of her hand. "I have tried. Last week I got through five whole minutes and I couldn't bare it. There was so much... pain. I can't go without it, please give them to me." His eyes held so much sadness and she wanted to give in, she did, but her thoughts betrayed her.

 _You don't think I can't hear them?_ She wanted to ask. _Why do you think I used to take it with you?_ She said nothing, knowing that people handled things differently. But as a former telepath, he could already read the expression on her face to tell what she'd been thinking. He shoved her hand away as if it had stung him.

"Where are they, Emilia?"  
"I don't know," she replied as she touched her mouth. "Is that it then?" She asked, attempting to distract him. "You're just going to give up? Are you going to stay on it forever?"

"You should know, you're the psychic." He came toward her, his hands moving to her sides."I need the serum, Emilia."

"No, you don't."  
"Emilia, please..."

"Don't," she warned him.  
"Where is it?"

"I don't know."  
"Where did you hide it?"  
"I didn't hide anything!"

"Emilia... please..." Her breath was caught in her throat and his hair hung hiding him from her. Something broke. Prying off his fingers, she moved to the part of the bedroom where she kept her own clothes. Opening the section where she kept her socks, she unravelled a pair to reveal a needle filled to the brim of serum. As soon it met the poorly lit light of the bedroom, it was snatched from her hand.

She couldn't look at him as she knew he was retreating to the corner of the room. Rising to her feet, she crossed the room to take her leave.

"Em'," she heard him call out.  
"Don't," she warned for the second time and left. She went to her room and grabbed the bag she had threatened to leave with each time they argued. Emilia made sure it had everything she couldn't bare to leave without. Then she went down the stairs, passing Hank who quickly raced up to warn Charles. Then she grabbed Adrienne's hand before she felt herself being taken away.

Even after all they went through she still trusted him. She trusted him enough to let him touch her again. She wouldn't let Logan touch her unless it was necessary, like when he dragged her from that alley way. The minute they had stopped she had moved away as she felt his fingers trace the scars on her wrist through the gloved material.  
When Hank had tried to pull a piece of string off of her dress she had freaked, remembering the times when strangers pushed her chest down and strap her wrists to beds. She knew that Hank always wanted to touch her, it had been their secret pact when Charles used to get worse. When they'd argue Hank would place a hand on her shoulder, or touch her arm when she needed to stop. He knew that she went too far sometimes. He'd pull her in for hugs when he'd find her at the doors of the mansion with a suitcase threatening to leave. Hank wasn't a touchy person, but he knew Emilia was. He'd let her kick her feet up onto his lap as she drew pictures of the visions she had seen.

But when Charles touched her she felt safe. She forgets how they had strapped her down. She doesn't think about the look in Hank's eyes whenever she unintentionally flinches back away from his outstretched hand - ready to touch her shoulder in case she's upset. She doesn't think about the way that both Hank and Logan, although her friends, still eye her with caution, waiting for her to break down insane.

She taps the pads of her fingers against her thumb as she searched for Raven. With no sign of her former friends thoughts, she searched for any other familiar ones. She was then bombarded by numerous thoughts and feelings. The crisp air hit her as she recognised one.

 _They was here._

* * *

 **A/N: Long time no see! Sorry for the mini hiatus, I think I'm getting self-conscious about my writing so I don't update as much as I worry that it's not good. Sorry as well if this chapter isn't as good as others, I'm trying to rush to get it out for everyone as I know I've taken too long.**

 **The term 'Manic-depressive' is also not used anymore if anyone is wondering or confused, it is now known as Bipolar disorder but was known as the former back then :).**

 **Anyone seen the new trailer for Rogue One? The hype is real guys, if Rey isn't a Skywalker as well then so help me I will scream into oblivion.**

 **Reviews:**

 **jazu10501:** Thank you! Hope you enjoy this chapter! **  
vain-gl0ry:** Hey, you never know: maybe she'll die in 83 with Apocalypse instead? ;) **  
debatable-cerealkiller: Y** eah it didn't deserve the reviews it got. I felt bad for some of the younger cast though like Jubilee and Kurt, it looked like they had a lot of good fun scenes in the trailer whilst in the movie Jubilee only got three lines :( Only thing other than that was Mystique's make up. I get that it sucks to have put on but couldn't they at least try resemble First Class or the originals? Rebecca's make up was so good and I hope she returns in any spin offs: Jennifer won't be back I don't the studio can afford to. Then again, she has no other hollywood blockbusters coming up soon and all her latest movies have flopped so maybe she'll do it (I'm not taking a dig at her, it's just facts). **  
anonymouscsifan:** Ooh have you seen it yet? I added more Quicksilver for you as I know you love him! And yes I think I will do Apocalypse, I have wrote small paragraphs to do with it that I think are quite sad, especially for Emilia anyway. Thank you for reviewing! It always makes my day to read your reviews! **  
MilieMichikoHedwidge2004:** Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying, hope you liked this one! :) **  
Amberdeengirl17:** Wow thank you so much! Here's your update! :) **  
musa22lbl:** You were right about the vision ;) **  
TigerLilly507:** Haha, are you looking forward to the new Wolverine film coming out? It looks awesome! **  
SaoirseTheSelkie:** Woah thank you so much! I'm glad you've enjoyed it and continue to do so!  
 **Guest:** Hope the withdrawal symptoms aren't too bad ;)  
 **E:** Here you go!


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